Back On The Road
by Donna Skmeto
Summary: We, the fans, are the true vampires. What could be more satisfying for us, than sending our favorite characters through hell? A lot of Delena but there will be a little Stelemonlaus?
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters created by L.J. Smith or the producers of The Vampire Diaries.**

Sorry. This is not my native language. Hope you forgive me for all my mistakes and enjoy anyway. And if you would like to correct me just go ahead. I really need to get better!

* * *

><p>"Elena!...ELENA!" The hysterical nuance in Bonnie's voice got Damon's interest. That's just what he needed. A little distraction. No one's reaction was as good as Stefan's, when it comes to Damon harassing people. But now that he's gone, boredom was capturing his mischievous spirit.<p>

In the main hall of the Salvatore boarding house, Elena and Caroline were already running down the stairs. Damon entered the big hall from the kitchen...going unnoticed by the others. "What happened, Bonnie?" Elena questioned breathless.

"You...you have to leave...right know!" Terror was written all over Bonnie's face. Glancing at Elena, she pressed her back against the door, as if she tried to keep someone or something out.

A cold shiver ran down Elena's spine. Now, how to get out the information that hung so obviously in the room? Bonnie was so damned frightened, that she was nearly hyperventilating, instead of telling everyone, why she was freaking out.

Before a question that might be helpful could form in Elena's mind, Bonnie took her head in her hands and pushed both of their foreheads gentle against each other.

After four seconds Elena's eyes opened wide. "What...?" Elena stumbled backwards.

"Show me!" said Caroline, taking Bonnie's hands in her own, leading them to her head.

"My god, what should I do?" Shaking, Elena didn't seem to realize the exchange between the other two girls anymore.

"You need to leave! And Caroline, you will go with her. She needs somebody to guard her." Bonnie demanded.

"No, I need both of you two to protect my brother! Stefan will try to use him to lure me out." Elena pleaded.

"You can't go all by yourself." Caroline stated.

"But..."

"No but! Go, get you belongings and then let's get out of here! Bonnie is totally capable of keeping him away from Jeremy" Caroline pushed.

"And Elena...Take this!" Bonnie gave her a little plastic bag with instant tea in it and an empty piece of paper.

Elena crooked her eyebrow.

"Just take it and don't loose it. I'll tell you later what to do with it. There was no time to finish it. Now go!"

"I'll get my purse really fast. Wait here for me" Elena spurted away.

She ran into Carolin's room, who just recently moved in. Caroline couldn't stay at her house any longer. The risk was too high to get killed by the hands of her mom.

Elena took her purse and was happy that Caroline moved in on first floor. She silently opened the door to the backyard and ran over to the garage. Damon's car was parked outside. She knew he intended to cruise to the Mystery Grill later, after dropping her off home.

She hoped Damon's irresponsible habit of leaving the key in the car would not fail her now. But who would dare to steal Damon's car anyway.

'Right...I do!' She flinched. Finding the key in the keyhole she wondered about how lucky she was. "Urgh, he will kill me for that" She started the 1967 Chevy Camaro and slammed her foot on the gas pedal.

Too late Caroline combined that the noise outside, which she heard using her special senses, and the absence of noise Elena was supposed to do in her room, meant that things go different than planned.

Elena was already driving too fast to outrun her, when Caroline finally arrived in the backyard. Dust kept her from even seeing her leave. "Shit Elena... Why are you so damn stubborn?"

* * *

><p>Elena started to breathe again, when she noticed that Caroline hadn't stopped her and the boarding house was out of view. But just to be sure, she kept her foot on the pedal for a little longer.<p>

"I like how you speeding things up with us." Starving clear eyes of a carnivore met hers in the back-mirror. Before she could manage to scream and jerk the steering wheel around, Damon came forward from the backseat, steadying her grip on the wheel with one hand, and bringing his face close to the spot, where her neck and her shoulder were joining.

"I knew I smelled a different shampoo on you." he stated, when he let go of her and jumped into the front seat.

"Damon...when did you..."

"...noticed that you are about to steal my car? Sweetheart, maybe I really should kill you!" he pressed his lips firmly together and squinted.

"I didn't mean to, but,.. Hell I almost died from heart-failure because of you just now."

"Must be my good looks!" he smirked. "So tell me, why and where we're going?"

"We?" Elena sighted. But as fatal as the situation was already, she was happy about having the bad ass with her.

"Stefan showed up last night and gave Bonnie a hell of a vision about something he wants.

"A vision? Last night? ..." The wry look on Damon's face told her, what he was suggesting.

"He wants a spell to get rid of all, what is left of his humanity. He likes his bloody new lifestyle and hates his lingering human feelings. Unfortunately, that is a conflict, that eats away his sanity."

"Tell me something new."

"Bonnie got a pretty good vision on her own, about the consequences, if he should get, what he's asking for."

"Go on."

"If his humanity is leaving his physical being, Bonnie believes he would become even stronger than Klaus. She thinks that all the emptiness in him will increase his lust for blood immensely. Like a disease it will make everyone he turns just as empty as him, and in no time the earth is dead and filled with insatiable creatures. Stefan don't know or is not interested in the consequences. He just want to stay sane, to not accidentally walk out in the sun without his ring."

"And why are you running away?"

"It seemed that my blood is kind of important in the whole plot, because being with me changed him. That I guess makes me somehow responsible for all the trouble he sees himself in. If he gets me..." She sounded despondent.

"Ah common Elena, don't get wimpy. It's my job to make you feel that way." With a smug expression he touched her shoulder to comfort her.

"Another question: Why do you think does he bother the kindergarten-witch with it? Could it be that Klaus smells a rat and choose to hold the throne a little longer by not sharing the skills of his underlings?"

"Bonnie really improved a lot lately, just for you to know!" Elena hissed. "I just don't understand, how he wants to get Bonnie to help him."

"She wouldn't sent you away, if the former bunny-eater hadn't something against her, or would she?"

"No, I guess not. It must be something very threatening, She was so frightened back then."

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><p>Three hours later Elena stopped the Chevy in a small town for gas, food, and a restroom. She blinked up in the sky. The sun was shining so warm and bright, making her not want to believe she was actually running away to escape from Stefan, who once loved her, and now tries to bath in her blood.<p>

Damon filled the tank while she shopped for some food and went for little girls.  
>In the restroom she splashed some water in her face to cool down, when suddenly a men gripped her throat from behind. "Got you."The pressure on her airway increased fast and she almost didn't hear him whisper in her ear. In the mirror she could see an unfamiliar face of a male next to her own before her vision started to go black and a tingling numbness was spreading in her body. Then all of a sudden the grip loosened. She heard a loud cracking sound.<p>

Her body felt way too heavy, to keep standing on her legs all by herself, so she sank down and bumped her right cheekbone against the sink.

* * *

><p>Damon had a gut feeling that something wasn't right here, as if somebody had been following them. When he heard her heartbeat speeding up and a voice whispering deadly words, his legs were already taking him to her.<p>

...

"A human?... Well that's unfortunate... for you!" he grinned and buried his teeth in the man's flesh while breaking both of his arms.

"Now tell me why you're here."

Elena moaned when her consciousness set in again. She saw Damon pressing a man way up against a wall looking very pissed. 'Funny, I never thought that looking down on somebody can be so scary.' But the men, whose feet lost contact to the ground, experienced it first hand.

"I don't remember..."

"Okay... again, why are you here?" This time Damon's blue-green eyes turned into a piercing white-blue. Elena knew he was about to compel the guy to answer him. She saw it before. Shivering slightly, she watched them.

"A women who looked just like her..." The man moved his head slightly in Elena's direction, without breaking the stare at Damon. "... She ordered me to wait in front of your house, to follow her, and get her, if possible."

"Elena.." Damon turned to regard her with favour "...It's you turn to beg me, to spare this low-life."

Without really giving her a second to think about it, Damon bit down on the mans neck, drinking the last blood which was keeping Mr. Low-Life barely **a**live. "See, you had your chance..." He stated apologetic. Licking the blood from his lower lip, he stared at her without blinking.

Elena assumed right, that Damon was in a trance of blood. She tried to get to her feed. He then finally managed to snap out of his anger and thirst, and got a grip on himself. Helping her on the passenger seat of his car a minute later, his senses let him marvel again at the smell of her blood running down her cheek.  
>He gently lifted her head to the side and licked the blood away. 'Strange how easy it is not to bite in her face for more of this heavenly stuff.' he thought.<p>

"Damon?" Snapping out of it once more, and adjusting his confused eyes to hers he breathed out. "Elena...I'm s..." before he spoke out loud his apologies his eyes became snotty as usual "... Wouldn't it be a waste? For being your knight in white armor that's just what keeps me saving you, sweety" With that he stood up, walked around the car with a kick-in-the shin-look plastered on his face, got into the driver seat, and started the engine.

Five hours later on the way to nowhere, Elena still thought about the feeling of his tongue on her cheek. She stopped breathing and with an open mouth and closed eyes, she tried to understand what she felt back then.  
>"The source is sitting next to you, if you wanna have some more." He slightly pursed his lips and smirked.<p>

"Shut up. I was just falling asleep."

"Ok but if your face is flushing much more, then your wound will reopen, and **I** will get some more for sure."

After ten minutes of silent driving, Damon tried again to make conversation.

"What did you got from Bonnie?"

"Oh you're right, I totally forgot." She lifted her sitting bones to reach into her pocket.

"Really? A teabag? You're screwed."

"Will you ever..." "Nope!"

With that settled, Elena took a frustrated look at the piece of paper. 'Strange, something is written on it now.' She was sure, it was blank when Bonny gave it to her.

-Elena? Are you okay?-

"That is Bonnie's writing!...I...I think I have an idea ...Do you have a pen?"

"Look into the glove box."

She found one and started to write on the same paper while Damon stopped the car.

-Bonnie?-

After some seconds of waiting she felt stupid for thinking that Bonnie would get her message this way.

"Maybe I was wrong." Elena looked at the little plastic bag with the instant tea in it. 'Nothing special about that either.' she thought disappointed.

"I think, there you have your little magic chat. Hope the provider will charge you in $ not in toads for that." Damon nodded towards the paper, that Elena had laid to the side.

-Thank god you're still alive. I was sooo worried.-

-I'm fine.- Elena wrote back.

-First of all, don't write me where you are or where you are going to, okay, not even if I ask you!-

-Ok-

-When you turn the paper it will be blank again-

-Got it. What's the tea good for?-

-Did you opened it yet?-

-No, should I?-

-NO!-

-I first need to finish the spell. Therefor you need to put the blank paper on the tea. You will know when I'm done.-

-Ready!-

Elena did exactly what Bonnie asked for.  
>First nothing happened. Then silvery blue symbols appeared on the paper and faded away. Cold flames suddenly burst out, unexpectedly without burning it all to ashes. At last a hand-print became visible, which could have been Bonnie's. It faded away as well.<p>

"Nice show...if I would have been a six year old birthday boy..." Damon showed his best sarcasm-face.

"Do you think it's save now?"she ignored him.

Bonnie's writing re-emerged before he's got to answer.

-Okay all set. Here are the instructions:

Open the teabag, mix it with water, and drink it all.

Whatever happened don't say a word for at least 24 hours.-

Meanwhile Elena opened the package. Some of the powder escaped right then, making the air all dusty. Damon had to sneeze when he inhaled some of it. Elena then filled the purple coloured powder in her water bottle and shook it well.

-That should do it. But Elena, after drinking that, Stefan will not know, that you exist any longer.-

-He will forget me? I... I need to think about that. What about Kathrine? She seemed to help Stefan and had send somebody after me.-

-What? They were on your heels already? How did you escape?-

-Damon!-

-Don't tell me...And I wondered already, why he didn't rip apart people, to get to know where his car is.-

-Kathrine?- Elena wrote a tiny bit impatient.

-Uhm, you know I have the feeling, that she will drop the grudge against you the second that you are out of Stefan's mind. Don't worry Elena, you will be a part of him forever, just a very hidden part. And that means safety for everybody. Elena I know you are over him. Let him go.-

"Ja Elena, let him go." Damon chuckled after reading the last exchange between the girls and got a deadly look for it. Smiling, he lifted his hands and shoulders, then placed his index finger to his sinful curled lips, to show cringingness.

-By the way, since you are not alone. Don't let Damon get in contact with the tea.-

-**Uhm...why?**- Elena wrote back and began to pray.

-DID HE DRINK IT?- Bonny was fast in getting, that it was too late already for her advise.

-No. But when I opened the package, it got a little dusty in here...I think he inhaled some of it because he sneezed.-

-Why does he breath anyway, he is dead!...Sigh...

...Just give me a minute to find out, how that would change our situation.-

...

Elena looked at Damon who checked out his canines in the back-mirror, letting his tongue glide over the left one.

"You're a big tease you know that?" And he smiled as a reply.

-Okay, Emile's book said that the charm, if used as a powder on supernatural beings, will press forward the true nature of these creatures. Witches meant to find out, if they could trust their usually abnormal costumers. They needed a way to know that their charms would not be misused.

...Elena you still have your necklace, have you?-

-Yes. So you say that Damon will just become a little bit more Damon?-

-I really can't tell... With the necklace you should be fine and I really don't like you to be all alone out there, but, on the other hand it is maybe better to send him away. I think you have 1 hour left, before the spell is changing him. And remember, you have to stay away from here at least 24h. And not a word after drinking the potion.-

-Okay, thanks a lot Bonnie.-

...

"So...you plan to abandon me here in the big cold forest and take my car with you Kathrine...uhm I mean Elena?"Damon asked innocently.

"Hm, you really make me think about it. But..." she started with gritted teeth.

"A-are you crazy, there is no 'but'? I was kidding. Of course, I'll go. You have no idea with whom you deal with."

"I know you Damon. You wont hurt me.

"In an hour I'm fucking dangerous, because the real me is not as pleasant as my features pretend. I'm going and you will get out of here, you hear me?" With that he was gone and Elena stand there alone and baffled.

She really doubted that the idiot would come back, after waiting half an hour, sitting on a boulder at the side of the street.

'Okay, seemed to be just me then.'


	2. Chapter 2

After she was done waiting for Damon to come back, and about to walk over to the Chevy, a Pick-Up-Truck with three men, where holding right in front of her, blocking her way.

"Hey... you need help?"

"No I'm fine. I just had a break. Thanks though for asking." She replied trying not to show her suspicion. The men were leaving their car and came closer.

"We are really good in helping a fine little bitch."

'That dick of a vampire! How can he leave me here all alone with assholes like them?' was crossing her mind.

Elena turned around to ran away, when one of them was already in the way of her chosen direction to catch her. Without being able to slow down, she ran into him.

'So fast...Have to be Vampires!' she assumed right.

"Now let's have some fun." The biggest of them took a hand full of her breast. He squeezed her hard and than pushed her to the ground with one blow. With a thud she came to rest on her back. All the air had left her lungs. The two other guys closed in and started to feel her up. One sniffed on her face-wound having a good grip on her hair, while the other one ripped open her blouse.

The man who knocked her over, placed himself between her legs, pawing the inside of her thighs.

Still wearing her jeans, she was save from his hands on her skin, but the ugly-faced was about to change that. Slowly he opened the button and zipper of her jeans, gliding his hands over her belly, down to her panties. "If I can't drink you, than this will repay me well." Elena closed her eyes.

"And who are you, that you think you can touch her and survive it?" Damon snarled

"Damon!" Elena said in a whisper.

"Damon... as in Damon **Salvatore**?" The big guy asked overhearing Elena's words.

"In the flesh!"

"Long time no see. Hey man, we were just get to know each other. No drop spilled just playing around. Your bro will be pleased."

"I see."

"If you want you can go first."

Damon looked down at Elena.

Being aware of her state she shifted her eyes away from his, and down to the ground.

"Tempting, very tempting!" he responded coolly.

"Unfortunately I'm not good in sharing. And this is why I'm going to kill you now."

Within two seconds, three very dead Vampires with their hearts missing were lying on the ground. Their dead bodies were surrounding Elena and Damon who was bowing down right in front of her.

Tears ran down her face but she didn't dare to move, yet. She saw it in his face, saw how he eyed her. She definitely had to be careful.

"Now you regret playing little miss piggy with me, do you? Regret still being here...with me."

His hand, stained with vampire blood moved close to her face, caressing the air without touching her.

"Thank you, Damon" biting her lips, she hoped to reach him by using his name.

His dangerous mimic changed slowly to bewilderment. His eyebrows elevated, and eventually concern took over.

"Guess I have now something else in common with my baby-bother, going all wacko on you."

Elena looked in Damon's eyes to find something, she had never expected to see there.  
>Shame.<p>

Damon brutally yanked his hair. "Argh, it's so frustrating. I can't leave you alone for one minute. And then I almost..."

"But you didn't." she reassured him. Damon looked at her puzzled.

'What I wanted to say was: I almost made sweet love to you, stupid. You thought I was about to say I almost killed you, weren't you?' he thought.

"That wasn't a coincident." Elena said, still trying to find out, what he's thinking. "these guys were coming for me to act on Stefan's behalf. I'm sure of it. They weren't allowed to bite me so they..."  
>She looked down. Shaking fists crumbled her blouse tight to her body.<p>

Damon stood up abruptly.

"Don't go!" she squealed. He saw her panicking and immediately his mouth became all watery. His instincts were telling him to eat.

"Don't look at me like that" he demanded. The area under his eyes changed.

"When you do, it's hard for me right now to suppress Pavlov's reflex. If you want to survive I can't be the only one who need to hold back the emotions. Got it?"  
>Swallowing hard, she was able to give him a straight "Okay!"<p>

He gave her a hand to stand up and they walked over to the car.  
>"I really feel strange. Once in a while I seem to switch over to autopilot without noticing for a couple of seconds." Sheepishly he added "I don't want to hurt you. "<p>

Elena knew she put him in a bad situation. He must feel so much pressure. If this is not working out and he killed her by his own hands, Damon would slaughter everybody she knew, as a revenge that she did this to him.

"I'm sorry, I'm just out of options here. I don't want you to get hurt in the process either. If you want to go, ...please...do as you wish." she offered sincerely.

He looked at her.

Seeing her half beaten up with all the messy hair which is usually in such perfect condition made him all itchy.

"You wouldn't survive another minute without me. And what the hell, why should anybody else get all the fun finishing you off?"


	3. Chapter 3

They were still driving when it became dark. Elena had fixed her blouse with some safety pins from her purse. Her left elbow rested on Damon's seat, next to his shoulder, and her left hand was absently playing with her necklace.

Pale skeleton-like birches were caught up in the headlights, before they get lost in the dark, one by one. No word was spoken. The radio was turned off. Only the steady rumble of the engine accompanied their deep thoughts.

Elena didn't noticed how his breathing started to get heavy, his pupils constricted and how he clenched the steering wheel.

Then suddenly he maneuvered a little to the right, before he was turning a big deal to the left.  
>Elena's hand which was still tangled up in her necklace, was forced to swing over to Damon's seat to hold on to something, before her head would hit her side of the window.<p>

"A deer! ...Sorry for that, but there was a deer... You okay?" He asked when he stopped the car.

"Yeah, ….I guess... I didn't saw it. You sure there was a deer?"

"Very sure!" His voice sounded like he was in the predatory mood again.

"My necklace! Where is it? I ..I ripped it off. It must be somewhere here."

"I know!"

"D...Do you have it?"

"Mmhhmm!"

Her sudden fear was telling her that she made a big mistake earlier. Her body already responded to his compelling eyes.

"No, Damon. Don't!"

He closed in on her. His rough cold fingers stroked gently over the sides of her warm inviting neck, reaching up to her chin. Their noses almost touched. Grabbing her jaw firmly so that her lips puckered slightly, he aspirated:

"I need you...to... kiss me!"

Elena slowly moved forward. She felt the strong urge to do what he commanded her to do. She had no chance to resist but still trying, she felt how fast her breathing became. Ravenously he looked all over her face, eyes, lips. Her bosom moved as irregular as if she was crying. The second her mouth was in contact with his, she was able to stop her motion. Without any pressure against him she felt his trembling lips. A tiny wet something hit the base of her left breast next to the seam of her blouse and let her shy away a little. Feeling like she lost something, she looked at him with wide eyes. A shaken expression was confronting her agitated one.

Seeing the little trail on his face, were the tear had ran down and fallen on her, tortured her. Again she felt the necessity to close the gap between them. She kissed him very softly on his rigid lips.

Staring into space he was feeling way too much, to make any move. How could he do that to her? How was she able to resist his command halfway through? How was it possible that his lust for her blood had ended up in stealing a kiss from her lips?

Then at least one question dissolved itself. After all she was not able to resist. When her tongue stroked over his bottom lip asking for permission to enter his mouth he was the one who suddenly moved backwards.

"Don't!... I release you! ….I'm so sorry... Elena,... I ...I don't know what to say."

"Shh, it's okay." Elena felt drowsy from the taste of his lips. 'Focus, I need to focus'

"Damon, ...whooo... Uhm,...Please, don't look like you will kill yourself any minute... I...I think I can deal with it. You know, right now that is less, and I mean less less threatening than Vampires who try to rape me or bath in my blood!"

"I was about to have you for dinner, and then all of a sudden I wanted you to kiss me. I don't know what could have happened next." he freaked.

She took his face in her hands forcing him to look at her.

"I saw your face, Damon...And I'm sure, very sure to be perfectly save with you! You are not going to hurt me!"

After some seconds looking into her pleading eyes, he was able to calm down a little and sighted.

"Whatever, it's your fucking choice."

"No, Damon...it's all I have left to hold on to. I can't give up believing in you just because you compelled me to kiss you. Quite contrariwise, it shows that you still care for me being under a spell yourself. You would not have done that to me under "normal" circumstances, now would you?"

Knowing that her chances to survive this were lower without him, and considering her words, he tried to shut out the worries for his own well being. She needed him and however that would end, there was no way to run away from it. His already broken soul would be pulverised the one way or the other. He exhaled and got his nasty self back together.

"You really think I hadn't compelled you ever before? Why do you think you find me so seductive?" he replied cocky.

"You... you really..?" she started, half angry, half worried that he earnestly compelled her before, but then she saw him smirking.

Blushing about how he had prized her little secret, she happily said:

"That's the spirit!"

'


	4. Chapter 4

It was past 9.30 pm and they were still on the Road. Elena was tired and a little grumpy. She wanted to shower, eat something and sleep in a bed.

"Can we stop for the night? There must be a motel somewhere here."

"Not before you made up your mind and drink that stuff." Damon nodded to the bottle with the potion.

"Can't that wait? I uhm I …really need to think that over first?" Actually, Elena was still refusing to think about it at all and pushed the subject in the back of her mind.

"Don't want my baby brother to forget you?" Damon sneered at her.

Being sensitive, Elena couln't ignore his comment, instead she built up anger.

"Maybe you should drink it!" she hissed. "Then at least I didn't need to hear all the stupid stuff coming out of your mouth 24/7."

"Oh nooo, then he will forget **me**! I can't live without his sweet..." he continued, but she interrupted him.

"Fine Damon, since I don't need to talk to you anymore, cause you obviously can't take me serious..." but instead of finishing her sentence, she just opened the bottle and drank all that was in there.

With a short exhale out of her nostrils and a glare that told him 'that's what you got from it', she turned around and looked out of her window.

Damon started to snicker which ended up in a hearty laughter.  
>"You can be so much fun Elena!"<p>

She started to boil. Granted, she behaved like a child, but she hated how he laughed about her oh so human emotions. Embarrassed about the whole thing, she decided she wouldn't forgive him for a little while.

Damon turned into a small path in the middle of the forest and switched off the headlights. Elena couldn't see anything.

Out of fear she opened her mouth to ask what it was all about. Before she could make a sound, she felt his hand sealing her lips.

"Shh. Not a word!" He warned her.

After probably ten minutes in the dark, he stopped the engine. She heard some rustling and him leaving the car. Finally he opened her door.  
>She got out and noticed how dark it really was. In whatever direction she looked, there was nothing to be seen. No tree, no sky, not even her own hands. 'How is that possible?' It's like ... being blind.'<p>

Becoming anxious, she stretched out her arms to search for him in the darkness. Making a step forward and not finding him, got her frightened. Two steps forward and still nothing to grab on, scared her like hell. Going back again to find the car, without a trace of that one either, almost pushed her over the edge.

'Don't say anything. Don't say anything...' she chanted to remind herself of the primer importance of keep her mouth shut.

Like a fish without water, her shallow breathing became insufficient.

The full-blown panic attack at first let her remain numb to the establishment of physical pressure on her ribcage. Yet, after a few seconds the pressure became stronger and more defined . She recognized the sensation as being firmly pressed against somebodies chest and being secured by a relentless and strong arm.

'Please, let it be him. Let it be him. Please. Oh my god, am I in hell? What is this place?'

"Sorry, I lost you for a minute. Stupid witchcraft. Stay right here, alright? Don't move. I'll let you go now. Ready?" Damon whispered so close to her ear that she got goosebumps all over her back, neck, and scalp. As much as she was relieved to discover that it was him who had hold her, she nearly lost it all over again, the moment he let go of her.

Suddenly there was a semi bright light... illuminating a room. Since that was really not what she had expected to see, she was determined to scream while jumping up shocked.

At exactly the same time, Damon rushed to catch her bridal style.

Unfortunately for...well unfortunately, he had no hand left, so he silence her with his mouth.

She stared into his eyes and slowly dared to peer to the side and into the room, without moving her head or breaking the kiss.

After another awkward second he dared to talk.

"Uhm I guess you want to know what just happened, right?" Elena hesitantly nodded, still fixating her surroundings saucer-eyed.

"Well I kissed you...again!" Demons intoxicating sexy voice regained her full attention.

"Interesting!..." he smiled. "Anyway, in case you wonder how we got here: I used a little Vampire magic to get rid of anyone who was following us.

So yeah, there is more to us, than compelling and creating spooky fog. Actually that darkness we went through is made by a little bit of both.

I created this, let's call it "portal", 30 years ago." he was telling her.

"In fact, the place is real. It's a cabin in ...don't freak out...Kings Canyon, California." Elena exhaled sharp.

"We will use the same way back, promise."

'He make it sounds like it's a good thing.' she thought.

"So whenever I need a hiding place, I can open this portal to come here. Only bummer is: If somebody finds the car and is willing to wait... I really had a good feeling with the little path in the forest over there, but you never know." he told her making sure she understands. She looked at him a little puzzled. He then mischievous smiled back at her.

"So, you like me to carry you around or do you wanna go and make use of your own feet again?'

When she realised, that he still had her in his arms, she startled pushed herself away from him so hard, that she accidentally fell down, like an apple from a tree, ...and landed soft on the couch.

"Make yourself comfortable. I go and get some food" He opened the door to the cabin and she got surprised by the view of a white and freezing landscape under a clear night-sky.


	5. Chapter 5

Suddenly, she was all alone, somewhere in a little hut in the wilderness of California.

She was looking around to get to know the place, that served Damon as a hideout.  
>It was different than the boarding house. Less fancy and more practical.<p>

There where no other doors besides the entrance door. Just one big room to live, cook and sleep in. She saw a fireplace; a kitchen area with cupboards full of canned food, preserving jars, pots, and other typical kitchen devices; and a stairway next to a huge wardrobe, that led into a loft.

An old fashioned bathtub with a fire-heating concept right in the middle of the room got her attention.

She was pretty impressed, but also irritated by the missing restroom.

'Don't tell me...?' Elena was opening the entrance door and went outside. 'My god. The toilet is outside?' She never saw nor experienced an outhouse. 'I guess there is a first time for everything' she snickered.

...

Relieved and still smiling about the whole thing, she was on her way back to the hut. Piled up at the outer walls of the den, she found firewood, and a bucket to bring the stuff inside.  
>She first started the fire in the fireplace, then the one in the kitchen, and finally the one under the tub.<p>

She then worked hard to fill the tub with snow from outside. The image she visualized happily was herself sitting in that tub, losing all the tension in her muscles in the hot water.

Coming out to refill the bucket with snow a last time, she saw him coming back. He wasn't alone. Oddly enough a deer was following him. Not knowing why, she instantly hid herself behind a stump, which was used to chop the wood, she just brought in.

He hadn't noticed her so far and so she was allowed to observe the strange incident.

Elena spotted some kind of dead animal slung over his shoulder. Then, close enough for her to see them in the light of the hut, he turned around to face the deer.

The graceful animal nervously pawed the ground. Damon seemed to compel the creature to relax. She started to think how peaceful the picture was, when Damon attacked the deer's neck out of nowhere. Like the wild beast that he was, he yanked and tored at the skin and the subjacent muscles, till he was satisfied with the incoming flow of blood, holding its head in place with his two hands.

After a minute the dear collapsed on its front hooves. Damon buried his face in the open wound, kneeling next to the dying animal, sucking more and more blood, and pushed the deer little by little to its side. When it was over, a drizzling rain of blood was blown from his lips into the snow with every exhale he did. Warm and sticky, the blood was quite a contrast to the clean and shiny white snow.

Paralyzed, Elena gazed at the red and white pattern in front of her. Her hands and arms were eager to seek shelter back in the hut and reached behind her back, but the rest of her body was too dull to move, yet.  
>The only thing she managed was to knock over the bucket with a loud clunk.<p>

That woke up both of them. Her bodily alarm system freed her at last from the immobilisation. That on the other hand turned him on...like a cat would be turned on by any tiny fuzzy fast moving object.

She jumped to her feet, but, he already made his move and stood now between her and the cabin door. Without thinking she fled into the semidarkness of a freezing winter night.

Being a predatory stalker, he didn't want to end it just now, by using his super speed.  
>He just stood there and waited, listening to her heartbeat. Mesmerized by it, he had a smile on his face that would have eaten Mona Lisa's heart out.<p>

After 10 minutes he was left only to hear the sound of the snowflakes falling from the sky.

"Game on!" he rumbled, licking his lips in anticipation.

...

Elena's lungs were burning. 10 minutes of cold air and hard physical exertion contributed to her hopeless situation. She was cold, frightened, and lost; and thought about giving up and calling out for him.

Just a little eternity ago, she told him that she trusted him, that she believed in him. Now she was here, trying to escape him.

'Oh damn...so stupid... I can't even call out for him.' Suddenly a loud metallic click sound and white pain raising up from her ankle made her want to scream. However, she did not. She had her last thought still in mind, about being quiet for a special reason. So somehow she managed what seemed to be impossible, when the animal trap she stepped in, closed around her ankle.

It happened so fast that she startled leaped aside to get away from the pain. But the trap relentlessly clung to her ankle and pulled her out of balance.

Pulling her face out of the snow, she started crying and didn't know what to do.

Unable to stand up and being in immense agony, she was willing to finally give up and call out for help, if had not an eerie noise distracted her.

That noise was created by something huge and unearthly. It reminded her of a tree, about to fall and break, but it in a more glassy sounding way.

'What the hell is that?'


	6. Chapter 6

His nostrils flared when a sweet and rich scent drew him closer to the nearby lake. Bewitched he followed his nose to the source of it.

Her skin had a blueish touch and her hair was adorned with ice crystals, when he found her lying half on her stomach, half on her side.  
>For him it was the most beautiful image he had ever seen, and for seconds he got lost.<p>

Gentle but lacking in hurry and concern he freed her ankle from the animal trap and picked her delicate frame up bridal style. Her hanging head let him gaze down at the now open and vulnerable spot of her throat.

"Hey... Ice princess...wake up." Nothing happened. He tilted his head to the side, musing about her rather strange behaviour. 'What's wrong with her?' he thought and shook her a little.

Taken up short his eyes opened to the fullest extend. Something terrible hit his mind. He was so full of inner peace a second ago. What made him feel like he was lost just now? He looked down at her again.

"Jeez, Elena...don't die on me here." He finally started to get the picture.

Speeding back with her to the hut he remembered all of what just had happened. The deer, the frightened expression on her face, when he made clear he would hunt her down, her ankle trapped and broken.

It's his fault, again. The curse of a vampire didn't go past him. It's in his nature to destroy what he loves.

He climbed up the ladder and put her on the loft with as much blankets as he could find. Her heart was still beating, but faint and almost shy.

Closing the distance between their bodies, he fiercely held her in his arms to give her the warmth she needed.

After half an hour her dark lashes trembled and she fought hard to open her lids. When she succeeded, her eyes met his, and she was instantly reminded of the day she started to care for him.

Back then, she caught him off guard and his smug ice cold stare vanished for the first time. His eyes moved erratically over her face, the muscles around his eyes twitched nervously, changing his expressions every half second from irritation to self-reflexion to fear to shrinking self-confidence.

This time it ended with a sorrowful glare on her lips.

"Elena you are hurt, badly and I'm very sorry for my pathetic actions, specially for this one..." he declared flatly and bit down deep on his lower lip before he kissed her hard and forceful. One hand caressed her sides dangerously close to her breast.

She didn't even try to fight it. Neither his touch, nor the taste of his blood in her mouth. If it was for the lack of physical or psychical strength, she didn't know. Drifting back to slumber nothing mattered anymore.

When she woke up a second time, she was alone in the loft. Lifting her head slowly she got a good view from above. The room was blurred by the steam coming from the tub.

'That was mine!' she thought angry. But that melted away, when she got aware of his naked form sitting there in the hot water. He looked broken and sad. His elbows rested on his bent knees and his head hung down in between them.

She studied the muscles on his back, when he turned around.

"You are awake?...Ehm ..Don't answer!... Anyway ...I'm glad."

She looked at him with a poker-face. Sighing he leaned back in the tub examining the ceiling. She shifted her head to the side to avoid to see his glorious front again.

"When I promised Stefan an eternity of misery after my transformation," he began to talk "it felt exactly like it feels now. I had to shut down my compassion or I would have gone crazy."

Elena wondered were that came from. He sounded almost like talking to himself.

"Have you ever thought of death as an contagious disease? ...Well, it kind of is.

Kathrine infected us...

The thing is, **I** didn't die that day... Someone did, and my birth was the outcome.  
>But I was born dead." He splashed some water on his chest.<p>

"I often wondered how much I do resemble Damon Salvatore. He was young and green, his personality hadn't settled...

I guess his strongest trait was to give everything he had, and in return he would take self-righteously everything there was.

He left this world betrayed and unwanted but his unconditional love kept him hoping for salvation. And that, my dear Elena, was the seed for my pathetic existence."

Unexpectedly from her side, he stood up in all his wet nakedness to face her. This time she didn't look away. Far from it. She sucked in all of him and began to see the truth and tragic nature of the fallen angel in front of her.

A tear ran down painfully over her wounded cheek.

"Don't feel sorry for me Elena. The people who advised you to get rid of Stefan and me were right. Why didn't you listened? ...Now it's to late ... Your ruin had just begun. No way back... You see?"  
>Water dropped from his hands back in the tub emphasizing the silence.<p>

She shook her head in disbelieve. What happened to her was nobodies fault, it was destiny. Neither Damon nor Stefan ever wanted to harm her. She still believed that even Stefan would not be able to do what he planned to do to her.

In the next moment she found herself standing on the ground in front of a very nude person.  
>He had dragged her down here with his vampire speed and looked pretty pissed.<p>

Fuming he ripped and shredded her clothes. Her panties he allowed her to keep.

He gave her one arm to balance because she couldn't stand on one leg the whole time. With the other hand he touched her left shoulder.

"Look!" he demanded. Elena who forgot that she needed air, slowly dared to look at the place where he touched her. His fingers rubbed over a little scar.

"Vicky" he said and moved his hand to her right flank, to show her the other scar she got that Halloween-night when she wore that sexy nurse costume.

"Klaus" His calloused fingertips fondled the scar on the right side of her neck.

"The guy from the gas station" Warm air was blown against the wound on her face. Not wanting to hurt her with his touch he found a different way to make his point.

'The vampire-guys from today" She inhaled sharply when he captured her breast. She could see the evil bruises where he touched her.

"Stefan" he said sliding his hand between her breasts, covering her heart "and who knows where else he had left you hurt."he mumbled. She was glad that he didn't touch her there.

"And finally, me" Both of his hands took hold of her head. She knew what he meant. He confused her a lot in the past. Then he touched the scars on the right side of her neck, to remind her that he bit her there, when he was about to die. He covered her heart again and looked her knowingly in the eyes.

"And now just look at your foot." he almost laughed.

"We will destroy you, no matter how hard we try to save you." he told her, sounding like he would calm a child that woke up having a nightmare.


	7. Chapter 7

She sat in the tub, cleansing her body with the second-hand water he had left her with. Thanks to the fire it was still pretty well heated. Her leg rested on a board which lay across the tub to keep her ankle save.

Damon was preparing dinner. He cooked the rabbits he caught earlier and tried to give her as much privacy as possible by not looking over very often. Given his current condition he did a hell of a job. He just peeked every 30 seconds.

But what was his condition? He felt like hunting and killing in one moment, and making love in the next. Being trapped in the killing-mode more and more minutes each episode of his new discovered mental breakdown really pissed him off.

When he had switched back to his emotional side the last time, she was almost frozen to death.

With the sex thing he could deal. He was used to wanting her very badly. Even though, the suppressing of his need turned out really lacking. Dealing with the blood-lust on the other hand, was tricky and took all of his attention. The beast within was overwhelmingly strong. He sighted and stopped chopping the onions in such brutal manner.

Meanwhile she scrubbed the skin of her arms with a piece of lavender soap. Her hair hang loose and was partial soaked with water. Finally she became warm again.

'I can't believe I take a bath in front of him!' she blushed 'What was I thinking earlier when I put water in the tub? Guess I was so stressed out and wanted a bath so badly that I totally forgot about him. Now, that he ripped my clothes apart (I can't believe that I just stood there and didn't do anything to defend myself, either) it somehow doesn't matter anymore. And the warmth feels too damn good.'

Elena turned her ankle slightly to get a better look on the wound. 'He told me to control my emotions and to not show fear. It's my fault, and he still blames it all on himself.

I also refuse to believe what he said earlier. Stefan and Damon aren't the ones who ruin my life.

I even think it's the other way around. I force them to _feel responsible_ for their actions, I make them _want to feel_ and most of the time... they get hurt.

It would be way easier for them to go with their vampire instincts. I mean it's their nature after all.

When you look back, mankind seemed to be a big plague on earth as well. We kill, torture, and devastate what we love for money. We looking down on other creatures telling ourselves that we are right, good, and better than they are. That we have the right to destroy them in order to live a wonderful and happy life forever.

I wonder if we found our true reflection, when we dare to look at a vampire.'

"I wonder what you think about right now! I bet, it's how you get me to wash your back, is it?" Damon asked from the kitchen counter. She violently shook her head.

"Okay, okay...I get it. But better hurry or you will get prune fingers. Oh, and dinner only needs about 15 more minutes.

B-T-W, the towel is right next to you and I think I will find something for you to wear." He went over to the wardrobe without offering an apologetic look for the shredded clothes which were still laying on the ground, and soon picked up a pearly-white nightgown with a delicate embroidered hem.

"You like? Should be your size... Here is a robe and some warm shoes, too."

Elena looked at the stuff with an open mouth, hiding herself as much as she could in the tub.

"What? ...I'm really sorry but you are not the first girl I brought here overnight...However, you have a slight chance to be the first one who is not going to be eaten."

She covered her mouth with her right palm and raised both eyebrows in disgust. In the back of her mind she found it fascinating how her body language became so much more telling with the absence of words.

'Never will I wear the stuff of a dead person. How could he even suggesting it.' He on the other side, seemed to become really good in reading her mind. At least Damon seemed to understand her objection.

"Uhm, it supposed to be a present for someone... **Before** I could give it to her ...well, we separated. End of story... So it's like new. Take it, or run around naked, which I personally would prefer, but stop look at me like that."

He fell onto the couch and started to read a book that was hidden under a pillow.

Sighing she nodded and then hurried to shampoo her hair. To rinse it, she leaned back and put half of her head under water. Damon just couldn't stay focused on his book when she arched her back and pushed her beautiful chest and her delicate throat out of the water.

"Damn girl". He had to slap himself hard in the face and growled.

Later, when everybody was decent again, Damon served an amazing dinner. His cooking skills were the ones of a man with at least 160 years experience. He made up for the lack of ingredients, by using the art of preparing.

"Want some?" he asked her when he poured himself a glass of single malt. Hesitating at first, she gave him her glass. "You look smashing despite what just happened today" he said. Blushing again, she let him know using sign language, that she enjoyed his cooking very much.

"Uhm...Here... you should keep this." He scooped something over to her side of the table. It was Bonnie's magic message piece of paper and Elena was visibly delighted by the sight of it.  
>"I thought we could use some more information. Bonnie needs to tell us what's going on."<p>

After dinner Damon went out to get more chunks of wood to stay warm during the night.  
>Elena stayed sitting at the table. Armed with a pen she wrote a short message to see, if Bonnie was still awake.<p>

Only 20 seconds later Bonnie responded.

-Yeah I'm still working on something. When you write me, I don't need to look at the sheet all the time, I just know.. It's like the vibration of a cellphone when you get a text message. So how is everything?-

Elena thought about where to start.

'Probably with the problem running around right in front of me.'

She looked at Damon who just walked in with a huge load of wood. He had snow in his hair and his muscles were nicely promoted by his hard work. He looked so robust and manly in the shine of the fire. Pushing aside other thoughts of this kind, she started to write back again.

-Damon is still with me and I'm alive because of that fact. There was another attack right after we had our first chat. But seriously, something is up with him! One minute he is saving my life, in the next he toys with me like a cat with a mouse. He compelled me to kiss him, he chased me with the plan to suck my blood... …. I don't know what to do...-

-Wow, you okay? I know, stupid question, but I mean can you make it for a little longer? I'm sure his spell wears off in a day and a couple of hours or something. I also found out a little bit more about his reaction to the charm. So I hope that helps to deal with it a little.-

-Tell me!-

-You sitting right? Ehm...How to tell you that?... Fact number one: He is not able to compel you.-

Elena bit her lower lip and made sure one more time that he was still reviving the fire.  
>'I kissed him on my own free will? But his eyes... it surely felt like...wait a minute..'<p>

-That can't be. He definitely compelled a deer two hours ago. I saw it.-

-Yeah it's different with animals. But he can't compel humans right now. Fact number two is: His character and all his traits are pressed forward so much, that he will not be able to hide any of it. You will get to know the real deal. The spell was known as the best way for the witches of the past to find out, if someone wanted to betray them or had different ideas, than they claimed when they wanted to use a witches power. -

Damon cleaned the dishes after taking care of the fire. He had a feeling that Elena wanted to discuss some things in private. He could tell by the irregularity of her heartbeat.

-What about his vampire blood? Is it not working, either? He tried to heal me with it, but I'm still bruised, although I feel much better.- Elena didn't want Bonnie to know how beaten she really was.

The thought about the kiss he gave her, up in the high sleeper, when she was in that really bad state made her remember the taste of his blood. That he dared to do this again after he felt so sorry for it, the first time around. But then, she also remembered how his tongue felt like.

'It's egoistically of him to take the choice away from me again. Chances are high to die, right know. And if, ...I would turn into a vampire...But he for sure must have been expecting her to hate him for doing that, without asking for her permission. So it's kind of bootless for him, isn't it?'

-There is one passage about minor vampire mastery's. It is only said that it can slow down an effect or make it fragile. Sorry I didn't find out much more about it.-

An image came to Elena's mind. When they used the portal and he materialised suddenly, holding her tight, he complained about which-craft. Was the portal frail and he lost her in it because of the spell?

'Oh boy, it's getting more complicated every second.'

-He sucked out a deer completely and then came after me. Why wasn't he satisfied? He should have dropped to the ground not being able to move, drinking such a big amount. Do you have an idea?-

-Yeah, that is a problem of the spell as well. The whole thing of getting the real person up on the surface is supported by starvation. It doesn't matter how much he eats. He will crave for more. You told me once how the ghost of Lexi compelled Stefan. She made him believe that he hadn't eaten in years, to starve away his blood-lust. With Damon it's similar, but instead of bringing him to the point where his craving decreases, it is pushing him to the point where he is most hungry. Witches were able to defend themselves. For them it was just speeding up the process of the spell. For you it's pretty dangerous. If he can't control himself... -

-Got you. I will come up with something.- Elena turned the page to wipe out everything they talked about, just as Bonnie had told her. Damon should at least be part of the rest of their conversation. When she waved at him he came and sat down next to her.

-What is it that Stefan has against you? Why did you send me away instead of fighting back together... as a team?-

-...First he threatened to turn Jeremy. Now, since I warned you and made sure he wouldn't find Jer either, he caught my Dad. -

-My god, I'm so sorry. I never wanted you to get in the middle of that, I hope you know that.-

-I guess I do. Sometimes I try to imagine how things would have been, if you had gotten rid of them a year ago. But I still would be a witch and that is the fact that always put me in these uncomfortable situations.. It's the same for you being the doppelganger. We can't make it go away and it's no-ones fault. But it sucks. It sucks big time.-

-I wish I could be there for you right now.-

-We need to focus on the bigger things. I don't want you to come back for another two days. Stay away and try to survive. But, keep in mind that our destiny is small compared to the destiny of the world. You saw it too, and know what you need to do in case he finds you. Do you?-

Elena hesitated just a moment, before she wrote, that she knew, but Damon noticed it anyway and he didn't liked it one bit.


	8. Chapter 8

Elena neatly folded the magic paper after finishing the conversation with Bonnie and stared down to her lap, thinking about something.

After a little eternity she signed Damon to help her sorry self to the bed. When he picked her up from the chair, he noticed how beet-red her face was, which she tried to hide by looking down. He more and more enjoyed the fact that he had to carry her around.

Small distances she could manage. She at least made it out of the tub herself. But moving around much, seemed to be hurting her.

He already guessed that most of his vampire tricks were disabled by the damn spell, like the healing effect of his blood for example. Otherwise she would be fine already.

He couldn't say, if her ankle was still broken, but he wanted to splint it for the night just in case.  
>He sat her down at the couch and opened a small cabinet next to them with the first aid kit in it.<p>

When he applied the bandages, Elena found herself surprised that he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. Her ankle felt better immediately due to the supporting attachment that stabilized her joint. There was no way to twist it around accidentally.

Damon watched her yawning for the umpteenth time. It must have been 2 or 3 am already. "Time for you beauty-sleep." He picked her up and carried her to the place, where she wanted to be the most. Making sure she was warm enough, he stayed by her side till she was asleep. He then made his way down to the couch to get some rest himself.

But the hunger seemed to be indestructible tonight. After another two hours of tossing and turning, he stood up. Looking out of the window, he kind of got the impression that the moonlight concentrated on the little spot where he killed the deer.

"How the hell am I still hungry?" he whispered to himself, while he jittery clenched his teeth.  
>To avoid him imagining in detail, how she looked at him with all this fearful expressions, which now turned him on quite easily, he felt the urge to bury his fingernails as deep in the flesh of his hand as he could. 'That's gonna be so fucked up.'<p>

Around 6.30 am, Elena woke up from a bad dream. Or was it a noise?

She didn't noticed that Damon left her alone in the cabin earlier. And now she listened to the silence that was beyond creepy. She knew something wasn't right. Her hair stands on end in anticipation of the evil that certainly was going to come.

She stared down to the beds end. Not hearing anything but somehow knowing that he stood there on the ladder, she swallowed. Darkness still ruled. Only the light that was coming from the windows, reflected by the snow outside, made her see her surroundings. When dirty fingernails slowly punctured the bed-frame, where she could see them, her saliva dried in her mouth. A disheveled scalp became visible like black fire right next to her feet.

She closed her eyes for a second to regain control. 'No fear' she thought.  
>Opening her eyes again she almost screamed because she didn't expect him to crouch over her all of a sudden. 'When did that happened?' She asked herself.<p>

She examined him, starting with his face. His mouth was wet with fresh blood. Both eyes were wide open, far away from intelligent thoughts, and drinking in her sight like a dying man in the desert, who had found water. He was exhaling ice-cold air. His upper body was naked and somehow bluish.

If he had looked at her more grimly, she probably wouldn't get herself back together. But he didn't, and so she took her chances and studied him in a more objective way. She did it with the perspective of somebody who cares and worries not only for herself, but who truly sees the pain and agony of a creature that bites and scratches in blind rage.

'He was outside again...and he's, he's...' she suddenly snickered silently, feeling how her fear vanished into thin air. 'He's an icecube.'

Damon watched as a prisoner of his own body, how he sneaked up on her. He killed at least 3 other animals out there, before the unsatisfying blood draw out his darker side to play. He hoped so much that the coldness and the hunting would keep him away from her long enough. But there he was, on top of her, inhaling her intoxicating scent of pure fear.

And then suddenly she smiled at him sadly and before he knew what happened he found himself in her arms all cuddled up. He couldn't even move as flabbergasted as he was.

She pressed his face against the upper part of her sternum and then desperately rubbed his back, his arms and all she could reach, to create the warmth he was in need in with one hand. With the other hand she tried to cover him up with a second blanket.

"Sneaky little girl..." he whispered drowsy. The blood-lusty beast was gone and she was the one, who made it disappear like it was nothing. That somehow made him feel so comfortable and relieved from the bottom of his heart, that sleep was catching him from one second to the other.

'Wow Damon, how disappointing. I kind of thought you of all guys in the world would last longer than that.' Gallows humor was all she had left. 'Guess his energy level is dropping down. I mean his stomach is a bottomless pit right now, so his superhuman recovery must have slowed down a bit.' she mused before falling asleep once again.

It was 10 am the next morning, when she woke up to sense the spooning position she was in. A possessive arm had pulled her close to him. His hand was cupping half of her right breast. And there was another thing she felt and …

'Oh my gosh... his...'

"Good Morning, sunshine." he purred in her ear.

'Why isn't he embarrassed? I mean we are not together like that, wouldn't it be normal to be embarrassed? God I am embarrassed...' she squeaked with her inside voice.

Elena slowly turned around to face him and was greeted by an all too knowing and way too enjoying vampire. His face was so close to hers, that she had no chance to withdraw, when he kissed her nose playfully. Without looking back a second time, he jumped down from the loft to leave her there all puzzled and breathless.

"I'm gonna fix us some breakfast." he stated matter of factly and opened a window close to the bed to air the muggy interior.

Elena moved around to look at him from her higher viewpoint, irritated by what just happened.  
>He still had his pants on, but a missing shirt. Checking his image in the mirror, he disgustedly went over to the tub to wash away the animal blood that had dried during the morning hours.<p>

He splashed water in his face and on his chest and rubbed over his skin in a way to sexy manner.

"Like what you see, hm!" He pointed out more than questioning.

'Shit...I stared at him like the horny teenager that I am.' She grabbed a pillow and threw it at him in frustration. But it came back at her so fast, that she had no chance to dodge. The impact knocked her over and on her back. Angry she grabbed two other pillows near the head side of the bed and threw them down at him again, using the power transmission of her well performed sit-up.

This time she was more prepared to his firing back and dodged at least one of the pillows he threw at her.

If she had known what was about to happen, she wouldn't have positioned herself on the edge of the loft, with her legs hanging over.

Right in the moment of throwing another fusillade of pillows at him, the glassy, scary sound from last night entered the room through the window he had opened.  
>Distracted by the sound she misjudged her balance and slipped off.<p>

She could already feel the pain her ankle would sent out, before she even touched the ground. But before that could happened he cought her holding her up with both hands under her armpits.

The shock on her face vanished, when she looked down at him. Biting her lower lip she got aware of a jackhammer that obviously had replaced her heart. Time stood still and she felt like drowning in his clear blue eyes. When he slowly let her down and her body brushed against his, the fact that her nightgown was taking the opposite way escaped the both of them.

Her feet finally reached the ground and Damons eyes were drawn away from hers by something that really needed his attention, right behind her. The image he got from the mirror on the closet, took his breath away. Two delicious and perfectly naked butt cheeks were framing her most intimate and very delicate looking body part.

Elena was so busy with adjusting the weight on her feet to protect her ankle, that she hadn't noticed a thing. When she was all set, she looked back at him only to find a very taken aback Damon. She couldn't classify his expression at first and wondered why he stared past her in the back of the room.

A cool breeze and his lips forming the word 'mirror' were setting her up to date. Violently wiggling to bring her hands away from his shoulders and down to cover herself up on one foot, brought them both to fall, with him on top of her.

Pressing her beautiful body to the ground, his vampire side kicked in. Elena understood in what a desperate situation she brought herself in, when she saw the area around his eyes changing and felt his shallow breath hot against her neck.


	9. Chapter 9

She tried to push him away. First she used her balled hands, but soon her whole body rebelled to fight him off. Amused he just grabbed her wrists, taking over control.

"Mhhhmm, I like that. Go on...move and wiggle... Make me want you!"

Big brown eyes were fixed on sharp canines. His tongue provokingly slid over them.

"You like me to use them, don't you? How about we messing around a little and I will plunge them deep into the inside of your gracious thighs?"

Elena tried one more time to break free without standing a chance. He lowered himself down to her bosom and licked his way up to her ear in one stroke.

"Tasty." Damon sit up again letting her wrist go and trailed down the inside of her arms. Her breasts pressed against his hands with every rapid breath when he cupped them.

Totally distracted he missed that her hands successfully searched the ground for a tool. With his guard down the blow against his temple was unsuspected by him and lucky for her, he blacked out and felt to the side.

'Damn, I'm sorry Damon.' she thought. That bastard really got under her skin. She almost thought about to let him have his way with her. His dirty talk, as threatening as it was, it had its effects on her. But she knew he was out of control thanks to the spell and she wasn't so sure anymore, what he would do to her once he started his naughty little game. She was just glad that the whole thing had its side effects and he also grew weaker. The hit with the chunk of wood usually would made him laugh, now it had knocked him out.

'Get movin, Elena!' she told herself. Every second was precious and she needed to immobilize him one way or another in order to survive. Jumping around on one leg she searched the house as fast as she could. After two minutes she found some sort of rope next to the door outside. She turned him over to bind his hands together on his back.  
>Next she pulled him to darkest place in the room and took away his ring. After that, she opened the last two windows and let as much sunlight in, as possible without burning him in the process.<p>

The last task on her list meant that she had to go close to him one more time. She planned to keep the front door open. During the next 8 hours she could keep him at bay by simply sitting in the sunlight. To wear something warm was necessary to survive this without freezing to death. She looked through the stuff in the closet and heard him suddenly groaning next to her feet. Taking as much as she could get hold of, she was on the way back to the middle of the room.

"Bitch!" was the only thing he said, before he bit down on the back of her so far unharmed ankle only to hurt her.  
>She kicked him with the other foot in his pretty face and got away.<p>

'Oh my god, why am I not allowed to scream? It's all I wanna do right now.' She crawled over to the sunny parts of the room and leaned against the door, starting to cry silently.

Her sobbing and her pitiful and shaken looks did it this time. By seeing her like this, he was able to break free a last time to overcome his inner beast. He didn't know that nobody made it out of this state of mind this often. Usually a vampire would come back to normal senses one or two times at best being under the spell.

"Elena, what..." he began confused when the memory set in. In a beaten tone he added a simple "I'm sorry... Guess you didn't see that coming, when you trusted me with your life." Ashamed he turned his head away, not even trying to get rid of his bonds.

For a while no-one moved. He eventually turned back at her to look if she was okay.  
>But she wasn't. Her eyes seemed lost. She looked right back at him without seeing him at all. Something changed and Damon had only this one word to describe it all "Fuck".<p>

Her lips trembled, sweat was all over her face, her fingernails scratched nervously over the wooden floor. Almost greedy she eyed the scattered clothes on the ground. Her hand came forward, but she hesitated when shadows were touching her skin and and no sun beam could help it.

Slowly she moved further, looking him directly in the eyes as if he was a dog with rabies.  
>A big green triangle shaped shawl was the first thing she could grab onto. Snatching it back into the sun she wrapped herself in the shawl as much as she could.<p>

Pants and a jacket were also within reach and she grabbed it as fast as possible. The pants were Damon's and they were far too wide. She didn't care though. Staying warm was her priority.

Dressed she sat down again in the entry and stared at him fearfully.

"Look Elena, what can I say? I tried to fight it. The only thing I managed was to get myself distracted. That was when you hit me with the wood. I have nothing to say to make you feel better. Only the truth. And you won't like it... I...I wanted to fuck you and I will try it again. And these ropes won't hold me back."

Tears of anger and feeling helpless ran down his face.

"I could tell you to go and hike down to the next village which is 18 miles away. But in your current condition … You will not even make one, ... not with the injuries I gave you, and not through the snow.

Elena, listen! Look at me" he started to compel her "I need you to shut down mentally. When it is going to happen I want you to imagine a happy place. You will feel safe and relaxed and when it is over you will not remember..."

She sadly smiled at him before he could finish and curled up on the ground, closing her eyes.

'Strange...that's not supposed to happen...wait a minute...you gotta be kidding me...I can't compel her?... I can't even make it at least easier for her?'

He screamed his frustration to the floor and bumped his head against it.

Three hours later Elena opened her eyes. Damon hadn't moved but he seemed to be very concentrated. His ice-blue eyes were directed to the open door.

She sat up when she heard something rummaging in the snow. It sounded big and ponderous. It reached the porch and Elena could make out the sound of claws on wood or something.

Damon whispered "Don't be afraid, he will leave you alone after he's finished with me. There is a map from the area and some money next to the first aid kit. Get to the village as soon as you are healed. And do me a favour: Live! ...Okay?".

Not getting what he was telling her, she waited for what was coming. A big hairy head suddenly appeared in the doorframe. 'Bear' it screamed inside her.

The animal wheezed empty eyed and entered halfway through the door, turning around to Elena.

"Don't move." Damon sounded serious.

The brown bear snorted at her and turned over his attention to Damon. Elena's heart set out for seconds. Huge eyes were running over the scene, trying to understand.

Still drowsy and in shock, her thinking process rebooted. 'You compelled a bear to kill yourself...To get killed before you can do something to me...?'

The bear lifted his paw and ripped Damons chest open in a blow that would be final for humans.

Damon went pale in agony but he only groaned. He didn't want to make it any harder on her than it already was, so he fought off the need to roar pain.

His blood sprayed over the place, landing on her face. She smeared it away and looked down to her now bloody fingers. Then everything became clear again.

She could see that the bear was supposed to rip his heart out, as busy as the animal was with clawing his chest.

Elena crawled closer and saw the life leaking from Damons body. He gazed at the ceiling with his now green eyes, sweat and blood on his skin. She saw him mouthing something over and over. The moment she understood what he was chanting, she moved forward and threw herself over his body to protect him from further injury.

The bear immediately stopped dead in his tracks. He wasn't supposed to hurt the girl.

"Get lost Elena." He screamed at her "Let me go and get lost. This is the only way."

For a moment he thought kind of relieved that she would move away from him. But she just lifted up her hand to caused a deep scratch with her fingernails on the base of her neck. The look in her eyes was mind taking. Hurt and indescribable fear was gazing down on him.

She wanted him to drink from her and stop all this. Elena turned her head to the side to make sure he would see and smell her blood. She knew how hard it was in his condition to resist.

Damon swallowed hard and he somehow managed to send the bear away before his attention got back to the openness of her neck and shoulder. He licked his lips, knowing most of his inner organs were shredded in pieces and he lost a whole deal of blood, too. He knew as well that, if he gave in now, her only chance would end in smoke. If he waited a little longer he might reach the stage of being very, very undead, like the Vampires in the tomb had been.

He gritted his teeth, which accentuated his beautiful jawline. Concerned she saw him smiling, just before his eyes fell back in his head and violent convulsions started to wash over his body.

Tears formed in her eyes and she tried her best to hold him down. She pressed her wrist against his mouth, hoping he would start to drink sooner or later out of instinct.

And finally he did. She flinched when she felt his canines piercing her skin. The last time he drank from her, she remembered herself being overwhelmed by a divine feeling. Back then, she thought she had imagined it. Why should it feel different from Stefan or Klaus? But now feeling it all over again she let herself drown.

* * *

><p>When the monster woke up again, Damon was left only to watch through his eyes, feel and hear everything without any control over his body. Positively irritated that his alter ego needed obviously some time himself to adjust to the sight of things, he couldn't take his eyes off of her either.<p>

She sat on top of him and let her blood freely running down his throat. Her eyes were closed, and relaxed features were revealing a tiny smile. Her hair was messed up, his blood was squirted over her face and chest, and she looked like a amazon warrior princess.

"What are you doing, woman?" Damon asked in a deep and dangerous sounding voice, letting go of her wrist with his teeth and ripping apart the ropes that held together his own wrists. In an instant she opened her eyes and began to check on him. First his face, and yes she knew the other Damon was back in the game. Then she touched his chest to see for his wounds to heal.

He inhaled through his nose but could not find any trace of fear. Insteat he smelled and saw her relief at his appearance. 'Why is she not afraid of me? She surely should be.' he thought.

When her hands reached out and captured his face from both sides and her mouth kissed him ever so gently on his forehead, something ripped his heart out in a way that the brown bear would have never been able to manage.

He gasped and panicked "Give it back... Undo what you just did. You...YOU...!...What did you do?...WHAT DID YOU JUST DO TO ME?" he roared in her face.

With a sorry face she simply mouthed what he mouthed over and over when she threw herself between him and the bear. 'I love you' Soft tears ran down her face.

She couldn't let him die for her sake. How could he expect her to watch him getting killed anyway? She didn't care for her own well being anymore. All she needed was him. An alive undead him.

He couldn't breath. Neither inhaling, nor exhaling was working.

The Damon inside, as shocked as he was by her unspoken words, snickered. 'That's my girl! How could you not fall for her, pal? She's got the looks and the guts to turn the most vicious monster in a pleading little puppy. Ha'

"No" he finally screamed and grabbed her neck to choke her, but it was no use. She looked at him steady and soft, loving and caring. She allowed him to do what ever he wanted to do with her, not caring for herself. In a second approach he grabbed the collar of the nightgown to rip it open. She just closed her eyes without flinching at all, and he found himself unable to do it, again.

He decided he just needed to get away from her. Pushing her off, he used his super-speed to get out . But he didn't come far. The sun greeted him at the door and burned his front. Taken aback he found shelter in the shadows of the hut.


	10. Chapter 10

He didn't notice the absence of his ring when he burst toward the door. But the sun was there to let the cat out of the bag.

The fluids in the skin of his face immediately boiled and blistered. He jumped to the side, hiding himself in the shadows of the wall next to the door and cursed very colourfully. His hands were balled to fists when he looked over to her with murderous eyes. The burning red marks in his face made him look like the devil.

She pressed her lips together between her upper and lower row of her teeth, feeling guilty. 'Where was the stupid ring?' Damon's pants which she was currently wearing, and searching through for the ring, made him aware how ridiculously cute she looked in his clothes. 'Damn girl'.

With the ring finally appearing in one of his pockets, she limped slowly towards him, intending to give it back. Thinking it over once more she stopped midways and looked back and forth between him and the door. His self-pleasing expression vanished and he felt losing control all over again.

Her eyes told him that she didn't want him to leave and his eyes told her that he couldn't care less.  
>With a wicked smile she came closer, but instead of handing him over the ring she threw it outside in the snow and closed the door. A punch against the wall made it obvious that her action weren't appreciated.<p>

"How dare you? Bitch." he spat. Usually she wouldn't tolerate such insulting language, but, she was so glad about him surviving his suicide attempt that she just couldn't be mad at him right now.

'I can't believe what happened, I mean seriously, did his other-not-feeling-side just fall for me? And how cute he is, pretending he did not. My dear Damon, you gave the roughest time of my life and I think it's time for payback. You will stay here with me at least till sundown, hate-loving every minute of being locked in with Elena teasing Gilbert!' She closed the window and curtains and debarred the sunlight. Little did she know.

"So you wanna play games with me, hm?" he pressed her small soft body against him, holding her tight. His velvet voice with a hint of danger turned her on.

'Guess I'm not the only one who found a weakness in the other. Spending so much time with him and going together through hell isn't doing any good to my reputation. I was supposed to love Stefan, and only Stefan and I ended up loving Damon Salvatore. Oh my god I love him. I really love him.'

He took off the jacket she was wearing, pulled down the jeans till she was left one more time in the silky nightgown. She couldn't move.

"Find my ring!" Standing behind the door he opened it and pushed her outside without mercy.

Elena found herself standing on the porch in just a thin layer of clothing in front of a closed shut door. She smashed her fists against it. But he just repeated himself.

"Find it."

She was glad that she at least had thick socks on her feet. 'Damn, I know what I saw. I'm not giving up on you. I know your two "true" sides are about to get one. And when love is the key for this to happen than I will give my best, no matter what. I won't give your ring back so that you can run away from it! ...I know you love me, you won't let me die... I believe in you, you won't let me die out here.' Things would be much easier, if she would be able to talk. The sun looked like it was noon. So she had 9 to 12 more hours of silence to be sure the spell would do its job. Elena turned around and checked out her surroundings. She saw a lot of piled wood...and a lighter...

The roof protected the windows partially from direct sunlight, when he took a peek outside.  
>He heard her limping around and was stunned when he saw her. Working in the middle of a snowfield, a little offside from the hut, she cleaned the ground from the white stuff with a broom.<br>Her almost naked form was very obviously freezing. Looking at her awoke his lower regions in an instant.

She piled up wood in the now snow-free area and started a fire with the straw ornament that had been hanging at the door. Lucky for her, the fire was lit in no time. 'She is one clever bitch.' he admitted to himself.

The Damon that was locked away in his own body cringed, seeing her like this. 'Why wasn't she giving in and bringing him back the stupid ring? She can't stay outside without getting a major flu or something, not even with the help of the fire. The wind and the snow, that was still falling down would kill her.'

After an hour she really was all wet from the snowflakes, that had melted on her, from the heat of the fire.  
>It was heartbreaking and sexy to watch her turning around and around to keep both sides warm.<br>Her arms were crossed in front of her chest and he had no idea how much her nipples hurt, how much her fingers and toes hurt. But he could see that she was worn out. She couldn't stay there for much longer.

'That's it, wrench. I get it. Now you won't be able to find the ring anymore...too weak already. But you will pay for your disobedience...Just wait... The thing is, I like my lunch warm..." he told himself and opened the door. "GET YOUR ASS INSIDE!"

She stood there hearing him, but she wasn't sure if she imagined it. Everything was blurry and she couldn't feel her body anymore. She squinted to see if the door really was open or if she just saw a shadow.  
>The first steps toward the hut were the hardest. It was like she was frozen to the ground and had to break free.<p>

With every step she made she felt lighter and lighter. Only 10 feet away from the porch and suddenly every weight was taken away from her. Gravity seemed to lose its meaning.

He waited for her to come inside, watched her making a few steps. He didn't know why but he felt horrific, when he saw her stumble and fall. Like in slow motion, every little detail got burned in his brain. The way her body turned before she hit the ground, how her hair was floating through the air, how she didn't even lifted up her arms anymore, her expression that told him she didn't noticed that she was falling, how the snow puffed up around her at the impact...

Before he knew it, he was outside with only a blanket as a shield against the sun and lifted up her petite body. He didn't feel the thousand little needles that pierced through the fabric and burned him, he just wanted to save her. As fast as he was running outside, as fast he made it in again.

Crashing into the ground, with her on top of him he just held her for a couple of seconds. His skin was still smoking were the sun had reached it. He stared at her head and the water that run down icecold from her hair on his bare chest.

He turned them over and sat up. He ripped off her soaked nightgown and wrapped her in the blanket he had used to go out and get her just a minute ago. He rubbed her arms and legs for minutes to get some heat back into her body. He then lifted her up in a sitting position and rubbed her back.

When her heartbeat got steady again, he stopped and lifted her up to lay her on the couch, putting more blankets on top of her. Luckily he had brought in enough wood last night and didn't need to go out again. He worked fast and efficient to prepare another bath for her. Elena hadn't known that there was a hose to fill the tub, when she did it yesterday. It was a little hidden, though.

Before the water became warm he laid her in the tub to not shock her system with the heat on her way too cold skin. He held her head up the entire time and felt unbelievable guilty.

Her blue lips trembled all of a sudden. She was totally motionless before, but now he could hear her teeth chatter. Heavy lids opened halfway and she tried to find something to focus on. "Guess the water is working."

She opened her mouth to say something but he put his index finger on her lips to stop her from talking. "Remember? Not a word." Her hand came up to her head and she flinched to show him that she was in pain there.

"I think you ice'd your brain. I once heard a story about an old lady in a supermarket, who tried to steal a frozen chicken that she had hidden under her hat. She collapsed before she did get out. Just like you." he explained to her, trying to not show his worry.

"I can offer you some special medicine and you will feel better in no time!" He bit open his wrist and held it out for her to drink.

Elena took his wrist and in return brought up her own to his mouth.  
>They knew that this way both of em would have the benefits and only the benefits. He was still not fully recovered from the bears attack, his blood wouldn't help her much if he didn't drink any of hers to make his stronger.<p>

They agreed in silence and drank from each other, looking each other in the eyes.

In this moment he felt it, saw it in her beautiful dark orbs. His soul that had been torn apart once, had become one again.


	11. Chapter 11

Damon opened his eyes and found himself lying down on the ground next to the tub. He looked up and saw her hand dangling over the dark wood that framed the tub. Her fingers were wet with a mixture of water and blood and so was his face. Another convulsion of her body caused more water to spill over.

'I blacked out, shit I blacked out...' Before he could stand up, he already had a pretty good idea what he would find.

Snow White in her glass coffin couldn't have looked much different than Elena, whose body floated angel-like under the water surface. The long dark strands of hair accented her beautiful light skin. She was turned slightly away from him. Only her right arm was pointed in his direction and still seemed to offer to feed from it. Her eyes were looking into the depths of nothingness.

One more drop went from her hand to the ground before Damon could free himself from the shock that this picture was giving him. He pulled her out of the tub as fast as his vamp speed would allow him to and put her on the ground to perform CPR.

Finally she moved but Damon knew it was not life which was forced back into her, it was death.

With tears in his eyes and an out-freaked voice he furiously whined "No, don't do this to me Elena...I didn't want this to happen to you..."

Shivering Elena sat up and looked down on herself.

"I blacked out!" she said and put her hand to her mouth, remembering that she wasn't supposed to say anything. "Oh no. I...I just ruined Bonnies spell."

"Elena..."

"Stefan will find me now"

"Elena, you..."

"He will kill everyone"

Losing patience he grabbed her still naked body and pulled her close to him.

"Elena, listen … you ...you drowned. You are in transition."

Suddenly she became very stiff. Her face was pressed against his bare chest so he couldn't see it. He first thought she started to cry, but when she pushed herself away from him, he saw something much worse. Hysterically she smiled and soon she she was laughing heartily.

"Seriously? I drowned? In the tub over there?" Anger was following "I mean … Klaus killed me once but I survived it. Stefan tries to kill me. A whole bunch of magic creatures tried to kill me, I almost died freezing to death hours ago or something...and then I'm accidentally drowning in the tub that was supposed to save my life from freezing? What kind of joke is this?..." Finally she stopped. Stopped to show any emotion, any movement at all, like a robot which gets its batteries taken out.

He put her gently back on the couch with a blanket, and combed through the wardrobe to find something to wear for the both of them.

"We are going back. You need to make up your mind about becoming a vampire or … or leaving everything behind." He knew she could hear him, even if she was in this kind of state.

He first put some clothes on her, which was odd. First of all, because his stuff was not fitting her very well, too big and all. And second, he had to pretend he was modest. Right now he even was, just because she was so damaged, and that really didn't put him in the mood, but he usually wasn't that way and he definitely was not used to care for somebody so intimately.

When he was dressed and had packed the important belongings, (He even went out again, with a better shield this time around, to get the stupid ring.) he kneeled down next to her.

"Hey Sweety, time to go. Are you ready?" His sweet voice made his way into her soul, but her body denied to answer. Damon was shocked to the core himself. He didn't dare to think about the recent events. Too much had happened. He was whole again and almost living, and she was sitting there in pieces and dead.

He softly picked her up bridal-style and opened the Portal. Darkness covered the room once more, and then they were back in the woods close by the US-129 N/Tapoco Rd and Lake Santeetlah, heading in the direction of Knoxville Tennessee.

* * *

><p>In a total surprise, an ax found its way into his spine, the minute he had solid ground under his feet. His body smashed into the dirt, burying Elena under him.<p>

"Don't worry Damon, by the time you get married it'll be all healed up." Katherine chuckled and pulled Elena out from beneath him.

"Well see you later I guess." she waved at Damon and bashed Elenas rigid body into the back of her black Ford Van. Without being able to do anything about it, he had to watch how the backlights of this despiteful and kidnapping vehicle were becoming smaller and smaller till they were gone.

Half an hour later he managed to get rid of the vervain-spiced ax in his back. With a roar of unbelievable rage he flung it deep into a tree.

The tires of his car were flat. Katherine took care of that. She just didn't count in, how much he loved his car and that he was prepared for such an occasion. He had bought special self repairing tires. And all he needed to do now was to lift up each tire of the car and push a special button on his console. Then the air-pressure would be rebuilt and the tacky, viscous coating on the inside of the tires would be able to repair the damage. A nail or something small wouldn't cause such time and effort, but since she used a bigger knife he had to do deal with the inconvenience.

'She died. I can't believe I let her die after all we've been through. She will hate me for turning her into a vampire. And I can't be even sure that she will become one. What if she doesn't want to, or even worse, she gives in and can't turn because they don't let her... I really need to kill somebody right now!'

When everything was fixed he jumped into his car and drove after her without knowing where to go.

* * *

><p>The Van stopped only an hour later. Elena, getting out of the car, noticed that she was still in the National Forest, where she had been kidnapped. But somebody seemed to had liked the idea of placing an expensive looking mansion into the wilderness. The twilight of the evening immersed the house into a gruesome location to be.<p>

Katherine pushed her towards the main entry. When they entered the villa, Elena started to feel slightly sick. She was led in one of the bigger rooms upstairs, without even seeing a glimpse of Stefan.  
>She got locked in and left alone, so she thought. But then a familiar looking girl looked out of the other door what seemed to be the bathroom door. Bonnie was by her side in no time.<p>

At first they both just cried and held each other. After a while, Bonnie dared to ask Elena, if she would mind to share her memories with her. She could see that Elena couldn't talk about it, but a little mind to mind memory exchange might be ok with her. Elena nodded and closed her eyes. Forehead attached to forehead they were sitting on the unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room.

Elena saw pictures how Caroline took care of protecting Jeremy and both of them were somewhere in Mystic Falls. She saw that nobody could see the house they were in, because Bonnie had used magic that camouflaged it. But one time Stefan came so close that Bonnie had to draw all attention on herself and was taken away in the process.

She had to follow Stefan the whole way out here and so had her father. Stefan had been very close to finding Damon's car for some days already, thanks to some hired vampires. They had arrived here only 2 hours ago. The owner of the mansion and Bonnie's Dad were misused as living blood-bags.

When Bonnie finished to look into Elena's past two days, she grabbed her hand and had a horrified expression on her face.

"You are in transition?" Elena again just nodded.

"Why do I not feel it, when I touch you? I only feel that you are sick." Bonnie could say by her tells that she didn't care about it right now.

"You need to drink blood if you are in transition." No reaction from Elena's side. A small uncomfortable silence was all that Bonnie got, before she lifted hesitantly her wrist to Elena's mouth.

"Common Elena, you have to, please."

Elena took her wrist. Thinking for at least 10 seconds about what she should do, she eventually bit down on it.

"Aaaw, can you at least use your Vampire canines? Doing it without really hurts bad."

"I can't. For whatever reason I don't have them." she talked back very sullen and turned to the side very depressed and tired.

Bonnie was about to think that it has to be a mistake that Elena was in transition, when suddenly blood came out of Elenas eyes like tears and fell down into her lap.


	12. Chapter 12

Sorry I'm late with the update and the chapter turned out pretty short. But the research about creatures and legends that I used to extend to the real TVT background story took a while. I hope you like it, even if it sounds a bit crazy but the "Blood Moon" legend was actually invented by somebody else than me. At least part of it. :)

* * *

><p>It was hard for Bonnie to connect with the spirits of her ancestors. Elena was bleeding constantly and seemed to be in pain and that took a lot of her concentration. But her friend needed help and some answers, right now, so she had to be strong.<p>

Elena waited as patiently as her condition would it allow her to. She was lying on her back with her head resting on Bonnie's cross-legged lap. The witches shaking, cold hands felt nice on her face and she sensed some sort of electric prickle.

Suddenly Bonnie's mouth opened and she spoke to her in a chorus of voices that were in perfect harmony.

"You, who seek knowledge. Listen closely to the legend that had been forgotten for more than a thousand years.

Once there were two brothers who gambled with the spirits of hell and were transformed into a tree that bears sculls instead of fruits. A virgin maiden named Blood Moon conceived twins after one of the sculls had spat in her hand.

The two sisters that were born to Blood Moon didn't looked alike, like someone would expect. One had dark hair and brown eyes and was called Sun and the other one had light hair and blue eyes and was called Moon.

When times had become bad, Moon's blood was shed to endow a ruling family of a small village with supernatural powers in order to protect themselves from an evil lord that wanted to kill them.

The family and its village eventually won the fight against the lord, but with the power also a burden was put on their shoulders. Moon's sacrifice bound them and all their descendents inseparably to the circle of the moon and they were known as werewolves since then.

For some years they lived in peace, but one night on a full moon a boy from a neighbour village was killed because he, despite the rules, had gone to watch them turning.

The family of the boy then wanted the same kind of power in order to revenge their child and keep the rest of their family save. They killed Sun, Blood Moons other daughter and drank her blood to become as strong and powerful as the wolves. But like the others, they were not only blessed. The base motive of revenge had made their curse much worse. They were dead and yet they had to live to see everybody they care for dying. They had to feed from the living. Their greed would bring them great suffer. Direct sunlight would burn them to ashes. And they would spread the curse to other unfortunate souls like a disease and live with the sin of it.

And so the fight for dominance between the two families began and hadn't stopped for thousand years. It's said that only the blood of the Chimaera will bring back the balance.

Before Sun had been killed, she had given birth to a daughter. A very powerful witch, who knew that at one point it would become too dangerous for the humans to deal with these god like creatures, had taken one rib from each of the twin sisters corpses and replaced them into Sun's daughter.

A spell guaranteed that the sleeping form of the Chimaera that Sun's daughter had become due to the ribs of her mother and aunt, would never die or turn into something else, before she had created a new life that would forward her mixed genes of Moon and Sun.

All 300 years a Doppelganger of the first Chimaera would appear and one of them is going to be able to change everything.

The prophecy says that only a natural death can cause a turning and awakening of the Chimaera, and only if she is the last one of her kind without any descendents. To ensure her turning, she has to suffer till she feeds from the beloved death himself.

The future is unknown to us. Therefore we can't tell you more."

Bonnie sank back unconsciously and worn out by the extreme energies that had flown through her body.

Elena thought about what she knew about the mythological and medical background of the word Chimaera. She tried to find out, if she was supposed now, to turn into a mix of different animals or if her body was a mix of different persons.

But thinking soon became impossible. The pain she was in, increased and left her screaming with more blood coming from her eyes on the bed.


	13. Chapter 13

Still a little bit more confusion before telling you what it's all about, but maybe you can guess.

I also hope you like the spin that not only Damon has a special interest in Elena.

* * *

><p>It was in the middle of the night, when Elena woke up from a strange dream. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness and she felt a little chilly. The door to her prison was standing wide open and was leading to a dangerously dark and awfully silent floor.<p>

Elena stood up and walked over to the door. To her left was a window, to her right three other doors and a stairway. Sand and dirt from the old carpet got stuck on her bare feet when she left the room.

Seeing the chance of a successful escape, she turned around to get Bonnie, but the door to the room was now closed. Irritated she thought that if the wind had slammed the door shut, she would have heard it. Trying to open it, she noticed that there was no noise audible at all. Not the movement her hand was doing on the doorknob, not her whisper when she attempted to wake up Bonnie, not her breathing, nothing.

Spinning around she looked over to the stairs. A small source of light was reflected from the level beneath her. Balancing out every step she tiptoed over to the banister, and step by step she reached the stairhead half way down. Elena couldn't figure out why **she** didn't hear anything, but it seemed to be a good idea to keep quiet to be sure nobody would be able to hear her. On the ground level was a hall with some furniture hidden under dust sheets.

Another open door caught her eyes when she crossed the hall, aware that at any moment somebody could jump in front of her from under the sheets. The cold lights she followed, led her to a room that must have been beautiful some years ago. Now the edges of the wallpapers had become loose due to the humidity; an inch of dust, shattered books, and paper covered the wooden floor; and furnitures were half destroyed or knocked over. It looked like a big fight had occured in here a while ago.

She found herself in the middle of the room and the sudden urge to close her eyes for a moment was too strong to resist. Something strange was going on. Something was coming at her. When she opened her eyes the room was lit by a warm, pleasing light and everything was tidy and clean.

"Stefan!" Elena screamed. Stefan was suddenly four feet to her right side. But he just stood there without any reaction or expression. Before she had the chance to wonder about the fact that the sound was back on, she noticed that Damon was standing to her left side. He didn't looked at her either. Both of them were staring in the back of the room.

"Hello my lovelies. Are we ready?" His voice made her stomach tighten anxiously. Elena turned around to see..."Klaus.."

He grinned at her empathically. "Long time no see. How have you been my dear Elena?"

"Spare me your concern about caring for me. What is it this time Klaus? What are you planning now?"

"Sweetheart, I'm so glad you asked. I rather show you...Stefan!"

Stefan stepped forward at her side and took her hand. Gently he lifted it to his mouth and kissed it. First the outside, then the inside. With soft butterfly kisses he then made his way up to the crook of her arm. Totally shocked she just stood there and looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

"Stefan stop...What did he do to you?"  
>Somehow it felt nice and familiar and it gave her something to hold on at this strange place, but she knew this game was dangerous. She turned around to Damon, looking for a clue about what was going on. He still hadn't moved a bit and showed no sign of sympathy or compassion.<p>

"Urgh, of course, you and Damon have grown together quite a bit, haven't you?...Damon would you please accompany the lovely Elena and help your brother."

Just then Damon walked over and took her other hand, mirroring his brother's actions.

"Why do you do this?" Elena asked, confused at what she was feeling.

Klaus leaned colly against the wall, watching aware of how it all affected her.

"Because it serves my purpose. Your love for them will send you directly where you belong...to me."

Suddenly Elena had problems to see clear. Flashes of either Damon or Stefan caught up with her in explicit poses stole her breath away. Stefan nibbling on her inner thight. Damon staring her down enjoying what he was doing to her. In between these flashes she could see Klaus's face and his intense eyes all over her body, while she literally felt the heat of two naked bodies covering hers.

Elena opened her eyes and found herself in a huge bed. She was wearing a wedding dress.  
>"Rise" Damon said on her left side "...and shine" Stefan cheered from the right side of the bed. Both of them then bit down on their wrists and pressed them together right over her head. The mix of their blood dropped down to her lips and when she tasted it, it was divine.<p>

The mirror she stood in front of at first gave her the impression of looking at a piece of art. But the figure in front of her that seemed to come from an ancient book about myths and legends was herself.

She didn't have hair anymore, instead snakes were proudly covering her scalp and hissing at her. Her teeth and nails where that of a catlike animal, her eyes were that of a goat and she also had horns on her head like a goat would have.

"Now you're ready for me, my love." Klaus grabbed her naked form from behind, pushed her down to the ground and forced himself on her. After what seemed to be hours he released his seed into her, and she could feel what his purpose was. She felt the new dead life in her body.

The child grew fast inside of her and within minutes of pain she had the belly of a 9 month pregnant women. And then there was a world devastated by death and everybody she cared about was long gone.

All sweaty and crying she woke up next to Bonnie in the bed that she had fallen asleep in, in the room that held her as a prisoner, in the house that was promising a dark future.

'What was I dreaming. It was something important, I shouldn't forget. What was it? Damit'


	14. Chapter 14

"Elena, are you all right?" Bonnie asked concerned.

Swallowing down the dryness in her throat, Elena meekly nodded. "I guess so."

Her bloody tears still won't dry and the bedsheets had become red during the night, but at least she knew where her lightheadedness was coming from.

Strange she wasn't dead by now. 'Yeah right, I am dead since yesterday' she thought.

The door to their room opened. Elena saw a picture of herself walking through the door, self righteous as always.

"Katherine!"

"Good morning...My god, Elena what an ugly make-up. Even worse than your usual."

"Stop being a bitch and help her, otherwise she won't be of use for you at all." Bonnie replied angry.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know but it looks like she can't stay like this for much longer."

"Bonnie, I hope you know that if she dies, your daddy will suffer endlessly before he is allowed to die, right? Make sure she keeps it up. I'll be right back." Katherine's snootiness was shaken a little and Bonnie sensed a tiny bit of worry in her voice.

Given the circumstances there was nothing Bonnie could do.

After a little while four Vampires entered the room. Two of them took Elena away and the other two dealt with Bonnie who tried to hinder them from doing so. She wanted to stay with Elena but to brain-attack four vampires at the same time was too much for her right now.

Elena soon found herself on the ground of the main hall. The furnitures were still under white sheets like yesterday when they arrived and somehow she had the feeling there was something she should remember.

Stefan stood right there, looking down on her, when she was to his feet.

But then he held out an hand to give her a lift. Angry Elena refused and shakily stood up by herself.

"I'm so sorry Elena." Stefan couldn't look her in the eyes.

"You're sorry? Do you want me to buy this crap?" Elena couldn't believe how real his act was.

"I truly am! Of course you can't understand..."

"Right, I can't so why do you bother. Go on and kill me."

"That's not the plan anymore. I was compelled by Klaus. I would never hurt you on my own free will."

As fast as the main door burst open as fast was Damon in and banged Stefan's head against the closest wall.

"What did he do to you?" he demanded growling seeing all the blood on her face.

"Well...Apologizing sort of."

"You gotta be kidding me." He noticed that she was okay even with all this blood. It only looked so horrible.

Stefan stood up and touched the fresh wound on his head. Thickly his blood ran over his fingers.

"Elena, I'm still compelled." He said and moved fast forward to crash his bodyweight into Damon's. Then he buried his teeth into his shoulder and ripped out a big lump of skin. A red fountain was pouring out on the ground.

Elena stood there baffled. She felt how her heartbeat sped up and how dry her mouth became.

Damon, weaker than his usual self because of the things that happened to him and Elena only yesterday, still found the strength to give Stefan a hard blow of his fist directly on his left cheek. The ring he was wearing imprinted itself on his brother's skin.

Elena only half heartedly watched the fight between them. Her focus was much more on the blood that had mixed and smelled like heaven and hell to her.

Stefan knelt over Damon and both were choking each other when Elena sat down next to them softly. "May I have a taste?" She wasn't looking at them, only on the blood that had pooled together.

Her index finger reached forward, covered itself in blood, similar as it would be dipped in a glass of cherry jam. Seductively she parted her lips and closed her eyes. The tip of her tongue met her finger between her lips only to get pushed back into her mouth. She needed to taste all of it. Metallic, warm, and sweet. It made her dizzy.

Damon and Stefan hadn't been able to move a muscle. Open mouthed they watched her forgetting all about their fight.

Then she wiped away her bloody tears with both hands and offered Damon and Stefan to feed from it. They both were trying to resist, being aware that something wasn't right here, but soon the smell of her life juice, placed directly under their noses took the better of em.

First they only licked it away. When everything was gone they couldn't help it and bit down on her palms. Drinking deeply. Elena moaned. Nobody could stop, nobody wanted to stop. Klaus's plan was to well executed. The spell to strong. And the three of them helpless.

Elena felt it coming. The change happened fast and brutal. The teeth forming in her jaw, the nerves that seemed to grew into her hair making her feel it, the nails mutating into claws, the pain in her eyes and the weight change on her head when something seemed to grow on it.

She knew how she looked. She saw it in a mirror in her dream. Horns, and snakes as hair, eyes of a goat, and teeth and nails like a big cat. Her dream came true. There was more but she couldn't remember. Her scream of pain echoed in the house when the transition completed.

The Vampire brothers hushed over to her. They caught her before she could fall to the ground.

Elena felt so exhausted, so hungry. When she felt them closing in on her, she scratched open their wrists with her claws fast and smooth. None of them withdraw his wrist. Then she pressed them together and lifted them up over her mouth. She drank till the wounds healed.

Damon examined his wrist and saw that the three scratches she gave him hadn't healed as usual. White thin lines of scar tissue were marking his skin now. Stefan still stared at her in shock unbelieving what just had happened.

"Take her and leave. NOW!" Bonnie ordered. She stood there in a corner with her half dead father leaning on her.

"Your last chance. Go or I need to kill her" Tears ran down her face. "GOOO!" she roared.

Without a word Damon throw a glance at his brother and Stefan lifted her up. Damon didn't know why but there was trust where five minutes ago was only fury for his brother.

They went outside, placed her on the backseat of Damon's Camaro and drove away for good.

The brothers were talking while Elena was asleep.

"What had happened in there? Why does she looks like the outcome of Medusa an Miss Sphinx?" Damon asked

"To be true, I have no idea, but maybe we'll find out when we both tell each other what we know." Stefan said.

"Okay, but you will not like it!" And Damon told him everything what happened so far from his perspective. How Bonnie came to them with the vision about Stefan and his need for a bloodbath that involved Elena; about Bonnie's vision, how this would change the world's fate; Elena and him running away; Bonnie's dangerous spell, that not only should have made Stefan forget about Elena, but also made Damon forget his manners. He told him everything about him and Elena, and how she died. He trusted Stefan to deal with it.

"Strange. I know I should be hurt, angry, anything like this, but I'm not. I'm only glad we haven't lost her." Stefan muttered.

"We?"

"Yeah. You and me... and her. Do you think that is..."

"Fucking crazy? Outrageous? Absurd? Yes it is. Something must have fucked our minds."

"You mean you feel it too?"

"Ja, I guess I do and we shouldn't act on it as long as we don't know what it can cause or cost us. Now tell me your story."


	15. Chapter 15

"Hey, can we stop? I need to pee." Elena sat up in the backseat.

"Elena, you're awake? How do you feel?" Stefan asked concerned. She had passed out for 4 hours, while he and Damon had been driving around to find a place to hide from the world, from Klaus, and from Bonnie.

A day ago Elena and Damon believed that Stefan is threatening the life of everybody they knew of. And suddenly all had changed. They found out that Stefan was only a tool in one of Klaus's evil plans.

A potion that was supposed to help Elena to disguise herself from Stefan, caused a lot of trouble, when Damon ended up inhaling it and the whole situation got into a tailspin.

But on the upside Elena fell in love with Damon just before she accidentally died and transformed into a mythological creature. Everyone had been very well played by Klaus, who seems to get what he wanted after all.

"Hey look who doesn't look like a freak anymore." Damon said glancing in the back-mirror.

"You think I looked like a freak?" Elena sounded deeply hurt.

"In a cute way, darlin, only in a very cute way."

Elena checked her hair which was back to normal. No snakes that were hissing from her head anymore. Her cat-like features, her horns, and her amber goat eyes with the rectangular pupils were gone as well.

Damon stopped the car and let Elena out. She vanished quickly behind some bushes.

"Be more sensitive with her. She is going through some serious stuff. You don't know how damaged she is." Stefan advised.

"I know exactly how. She is dead and I'm the one to blame." Damon said tiredly.

'So you killed her on purpose?"

"No of course not, idiot. I would never...but I didn't take care of her properly...I should have..."

"Stop it. If you hadn't killed her, then it's not your fault. Just deal with it, will ya. She needs us!"

"The last time she needed me she died, don't you get it. I'm the last thing she needs."

"Fine Damon. Leave her sorry ass alone with me. I'm sure she will totally trust me after all what happened. See, I know she should be as far away from us as possible, but it's too late for that now. There is no-one left to protect her. Her old life is over."

Damon only sighted but seemed to understand Stefan's point. His self loathing wasn't helping.

Elena stood up after relieving herself. She eyed the forest, smelled it, felt it, tasted it.

"How beautiful you are. I never noticed." she whispered and took some steps forward. She couldn't look away. The sight into the green made her feel better, less disconnected. So she leant against a tree and watched.

Only 10 minutes later, Damon and Stefan went after her out of worry. It didn't take them long to find her. There she sat, next to a big tree with silent tears in her eyes. Without a word the brothers placed themselves on the ground and put her in their middle.

"I had a dream..." Elena started to talk. "Before I turned I had this dream. I saw myself as this creature. You two were there, too... then there was Klaus and he, he did things to me...and I was pregnant all of a sudden and and gave birth to his child." More tears ran down her cheeks and out of habit she hid her face in Stefans shoulder, grabbing Damon's hand.

"That will never happen!" Damon spat.

"Do you think that is what he plans. Creating even worse creatures than his hybrids?"

"There is a legend about two women. Sun and Moon. Their blood was used to create vampires and werewolves in the first place.

One of the women had a daughter, and a knowing witch implanted the ribs of mother and aunt after they had died into the girl to assure the world's balance against the inhuman creatures.

That and a spell made the girl a sleeping chimaera and all 300 hundred years there is a chimaera born out of that line who looks exactly like the first one.

Only the last of these doppelganger descendents, who is to die by accident or natural death, can be awoken with blood that has to come from someone she loves." Elena forwarded the informations, that she gained with Bonnie's help.

"So you are able to take us all down? But how? And why would Klaus risk that?"Stefan asked.

"Maybe Klaus didn't know much about the chimaera thing, only that she can bear pretty little uber-hybrids." Damon remarked.

"So we should find out about your skills then, and avoid Klaus and everybody else till we did. Am I right?" Stefan eyed her reassuring.

"Sounds like a plan to me" Damon approved.

" Yeah, but before... Uhm... I'm hungry really bad. Can we find something to eat before we work out my abilities?" Elena asked a little shy.

"Sure, what do you have in mind?"

"Mhhm, can I have blood?"

"Do you wanna feed from humans or animals?..." Damon wanted to tease her a little.

"Can I have your blood?" licking her lower lip in anticipation Elena still felt insecure to ask such a question. "Only a little bit of each of you. Not much I promise."

"Each of us! Interesting. Uhm, what do you think brother. Should we risk to get killed by a full-fledged chimaera?"

Only a little sting in Damon's heart reminded him that he usually would never share Elena willingly in any way with anybody. But the fact that she wanted to drink from both of em indicated that her feelings for Stefan had returned and surprisingly he seemed to feel okay with it.

"She can't stay hungry, so I guess we better let her." Stefan replied.

"You first. I wanna see if it's dangerous." Damon assigned.

"Damon! I would never..."

"You don't know that. Remember good old Caroline? She didn't want to kill either. But don't you worry. I take care of you and stop you if I have to."

Stefan gulped but eventually bent his head to the side, still sitting next to her on the ground.  
>Damon moved on Stefan's other side and Elena looked deeply in his eyes, before her face disappeared in Stefans neck base.<p>

Almost immediately Stefan's expression changed into surprise and fascination.

"Whow, thats..."

"Good..." Elena finished the sentence, releasing Stefans neck after a few mouthful of his blood. She wanted to show that she could stop. After another couple of sips she leaned back.

Her eyes were searching for permission to have some of Damon's blood as well.

"Let's just wait another second. I want to see if my brothers face is still able to show some more intelligence." He said without looking away from her.

Stefan's eyes were dreamy and a tiny smile lingered on his lips. He didn't react at all to Damon's comment.

"Stefan!" Elena started to shake him.

"I'm okay I guess...Wow, that's some kind of a feeling..."

"I was worried. Don't do that again."

"Sorry, but I can't promise that."

"Okay...come over here little lady." Damon grinned. Elena noticed that his smile didn't made it to his eyes. Somehow he wasn't as easy-going as usual. She had a good idea why.

Gently she touched his jaw and placed a butterfly kiss on his cheek. Then she buried her teeth in his neck and softly sucked little amounts of red deliciousness out of him.

She guessed that the feeling they all shared was mutual. Stefan's reaction told her that he must have felt it, too. An intimate tasty pleasure. And with Damon it was even more intense. Maybe it was because she just recently fell in love with him and everything felt new and exciting.

A tiny moan escaped Elenas mouth and that triggered something in both of the brothers. Their vampire features appeared and with it lust.

Stefan grabbed her arm forcefully to get her attention.

"I'm in control. I just had a few sips. Don't worry about him..." When she saw Stefan's face she was taken aback in surprise. Alerted she dared to look at Damon, but his face, which also had changed, was still relaxed and sleepy. So she had only to deal with Stefan.

"Kiss him! I want to see you kissing him!" Stefan demanded heavy breathing. Elena didn't move. She thought about, if he had sounded jealous or mad in any way. But he hadn't and that confused her. He would never talk to her or ask her seriously to do things like that ever.

"I know you two became closer during the last days. He told me. So please, I wanna see it." Stefan pushed her.

The look on his face confirmed it. He was somehow totally turned on by the thought of them kissing. And like a chain reaction, she felt what he felt. Strong and urgent. He would sit there and enjoy watching her kissing Damon. The picture in her brain was mighty and clear and without loosing another second she turned around to place herself on Damons lap.

Damon still was visiting la-la-land due to her snacking on him. But when he felt her sitting on him and felt her tongue asking for permission to enter his mouth he immediately joined the club they had just formed.

Damon could taste his own damn blood. Did he get hit on his head by his jealous brother or was this for real?

Elena felt him getting hard under her and ruthlessly intensified the kiss. She couldn't stop herself and moved her hips to feel his reaction.

Damon felt Stefan's hand leading his own to one of her breasts. He took it as a permission but also as a request to touch her. And he did. And how he did.

The craziness of the moment was dimmed. All three were drowning in need and want. Was there ever a feeling of moral or decency, they would have sworn they had never heard about it.

With an innocent consciousness they were about to become sinners, if a big branch had not fallen off from a nearby tree to startle them.

Elena gasped and moved backwards, away from Damon's lap. It took them awhile to realize what just had happened.

"Yupp, definitely dangerous." Damon stated uneasy.


	16. Chapter 16

Thinking Elena, Stefan, and Damon sat around the firepit. The lack of hiding places made them come back through Damon's portal to the little hut in California.  
>They all were shocked by the recent events and tried to put the pieces together.<p>

So far they knew that Klaus had planned from the beginning to kill off Elena. He must have known that she would transform into the chimaera after that. But from there, they were in the dark.

Either Klaus came to know that the children he would have with the chimaera would give him power, his long awaited victory, and finally a family; or he is afraid of the destructiveness that the Chimaera could bring him.

If he wants her only to give birth to his children, why would he let her get away so easily without even bothering to show up at all?

No, he must have known that she is more than a birthing machine. Maybe he'd let her go with the two brothers, to find out about her defense and what she is able to do to him. See if and how she might kill them.

Stefan had enlighten Elena and Damon about the stuff that Klaus had forced him and Katherine to do. Stefan had been compelled to play the role of the threatening distraction. Only then, Katherine had been able to compel Bonnie without her knowledge and plant the apocalyptical visions and the idea of the "forget-Stefan-spell" in the witches head.

Klaus had his minions observing Elena long enough to know, that Damon would never let her run off all by herself. Bonnie's spell and powder was meant for Damon to inhale, and change him into an uncontrollable beast all along.

Didn't Klaus know, that dying an supernatural death would have never transformed her into the Chimaera? Maybe he just gambled on that. Dead or alive. Both was worth something to him.

And now they didn't know which step they should take next. Could Elena inadvertently kill them?

Stefan's and Damon's uncharacteristic brotherly behavior and their tolerance for each other, concerning Elena's feelings, were outstanding since Elena went through her transition. Elena became the Chimera by drinking not only the blood of one, but both of them.

According to the legend, only the blood of a loved one would have worked. She was never able to say out loud that she loves Stefan as much as she loves Damon. And since she and Damon got so close, she would forever miss a piece, if she had to decide for only one of them to be with. The mixture of their blood and its effect had finally revealed the truth.

The small white lines on Stefan's and Damon's wrists, where she scratched them, didn't seem to vanish like all of their other scars.

"You may have marked us." Stefan pointed out.

"You mean marking us, as in making us her property, her devoted subordinates?"

"Yeah, Damon I guess this is why the scars won't disappear. It also could explain, why we are so easy going with each other right now, knowing what we know." Stefan took a meaningful glance over to Elena, who ashamed looked somewhere else.

"Whow, … but even if we would give in... in this wonderful threesome idea,... we don't know if this is actually what this ashole of hybrid is planning all along, right?"

"What do you mean? Do you seriously consider …You kidding,right?..."

"Oh common Elena. Don't talk like you hadn't liked it, earlier." Damon snarled at her.

"Would you excuse me? I feel slightly sick!" Elena stood up and went toward the hut.

"Oh wait, I'm going to beg on my knees now, for you to forgive me. My impertinence preveils over my obedience..."

"Shut the fuck up, Damon." Stefan snapped.

"Argh, whatever."

For a while the two men were staring into the fire. They had built it on the same spot that Elena had used for her fire, when Damon had locked her out of the hut a day ago.

The snow was reflecting the silvery light of the full moon. The night was clear and there was no cloud to be seen.

A loud and glassy sound echoed through the woods half an hour later, when they were about to go to sleep as well.

Panic all over her face, Elena woke up totally disoriented. Without a warning, all her Chimaera features appeared again. She darted out of bed and ran against the closest furnitures and walls, like a trapped animal would do. Stefan and Damon had a hard time to catch her and wrestle her down to keep her save on the ground.

Only when Elena buried her claws and canines into their flesh to fight them off, the smell and taste of their blood seemed to calm her a little.

"Better?" Damon asked.

Huge amber eyes were fixating his blue ones.

"Where is this creepy sound come from ?" Childlike she waited for him to reveal what kind of man-eating monsters would hide themselves in these forests.

"It's only the lake, sweetheart. The ice is expanding and cracking. Because it's so big, it sounds a little strange."

"That's all?"

"That's all!"

"If I had known... It startled me for the... 3rd time?...and I couldn't even ask you."

She remembered hearing the sound two days ago when she had stepped into the animal trap, and when she lost her balance sitting on the edge of the loft yesterday morning.

She blushed fiercely thinking back how tense it got from there with the blue eyed men next to her.

{sorry, couldn't finish the chapter properly. but wanted to upload what I had. I am on vaccation for the weekend...)


	17. Chapter 17

Their blood was making her feel save and home. She could still taste them. Stefan's aroma was reliable and soothing, Damon's fiery and demanding.

Forgetting all about the fear and panic she felt a second ago, she now had just one thing in mind. Tasting more of them. They were so close, holding her down with strong hands.  
>Without knowing she compelled them again, without the use of words.<p>

"Please, you hurt me. I will be good, I promise!" Elena acted as if she was in distress.

Stefan and Damon started to feel bad for having her still pinned on the ground. Then her spark started the fire. They were lost in her game without even an ounce of suspicion. Getting, that she was not seriously afraid, they relaxed.

"We will see about that." Damon said

"I think you should be your best, Elena. You know how dangerous vampires can be. I mean you know how vicious he can be" Stefan warned her nodding over to Damon.

"What will you do to me if I'm not? ...For example if I... SCREAM AND FIGHT YOU?" Elena provoked and wiggled a hand free to do some damage to Damon's handsome face, since he was the closest. But he was fast and moved out of her range.

"Ugh, I wouldn't have done that. Now you made him mad."

"Take care of her kitty-paws. It seemed she wanna get taught a lesson." Damon hissed.

Stefan grabbed her by her wrists from behind her head. "I told you. Better prepare yourself."

Elena squirmed and fought against their dominance as much as possible. Satisfied she saw how much it turned them on to have her as their prey.

"You really thought that you could scratch me, hm? Let's see if you like the punishment for that." Damon ripped open her shirt.

"No please Damon, don't." Elena pleaded. Every move she made to get free made her bosom bounce a little, getting the full attention.

Like being hypnotized Damon bent down to plunge his face in between her two well shaped breasts.

She noticed his breath against her skin and moaned at the sensation. He didn't even kissed her yet.

"One thing I learned waiting for this, is that waiting can be a very strong tool in building up tension."

Abruptly Damon stood up.

"Move her over there" he demanded, pointing to the soft carpet near the fireplace.

Stefan did without questioning. In no time Elena found herself bound and blindfolded on the carpet. She felt like a starfish with her legs and arms all stretched out. Not so sure anymore if she was still in charge of the game, her chimaera features vanish once more.

"So it seems your horns, and snakes, and claws comes out to play only when you are self confident or when you decide to fight instead of flight." she heard Damon saying.

"I think we should run some further tests"

It became silent. Elena tried to locate them but couldn't hear a thing. First seconds, then minutes passed. Nothing happened. Where they still in the room? She had to admit, it wasn't to her advantage to be bound and stripped from her natural abilities of sight and free movement.

"Guys?" No answer. Elena waited a few more minutes. There was something on her right leg, no, not her leg, her jeans. It didn't touched her skin, but it somehow pulled on her pant leg, lifting up her calf a little.

"Scissors" she whispered but still got no answer. Someone cut open her jeans little by little, inch by inch.

Still believing in the spirit of the game, she kept quiet. A cold breeze gave her goosebumps on her right thigh. Then it became silent once more. Too much happened the last days and Elena became nervous. She needed to see if she was still in the place she thought she was, with the people she loved.

Her heart stopped a second, when her left jeans leg was cut open so fast, up to her hip, that the sound of it almost sent her to hell.

"Damon, Stefan, please...let me see. I'm scared." she whined. But again, nobody was willing to answer. Solid fifteen minutes she waited for something to happen, good or bad. She screamed, she pleaded, and when she was about to cry she felt a mouth kissing the back of her right foot.

That somehow told her she wasn't in danger. But still, she felt so vulnerable laying there with bound in shredded clothes and a too delicate piece of fabric between her legs to feel at least a touch of decency.

Someone touched her hair very carefully, played with some of her strands. She turned her head in that direction and opened the area on the other side of her long neck, immediately regretted the move. She felt sharp canines impinging her skin, sucking deeply, making her dizzy.

"Damon.." His rough way that was gentle enough to be enjoyed made her knew it was him.

The dizziness wore off as if she restored the blood in her veins right away. Was she able to do that and was her blood still nourishing for vampires after her transition? Two pinging stings on the inside of her thigh made her aware, that Damon wasn't the only one who had a liking in sucking her blood. This time she nearly fainted. Stefan's greed for blood was unmistakable.

Little by little they conquered her body, making it hard for her to find out who was caressing or teasing her. They got rid of her panties, the last thing she had left before they stopped again. Elena felt their eyes on her bare skin. Her anticipation grew but stayed unanswered. To her it felt like years.

Was it possible they caused the wetness between her legs just by staring down at her. She couldn't help but feel beautiful. She smelled their salty muscular readiness. Any moment they would do indescribable things to her. Who would take her first? She hoped it would be Damon. She couldn't wait any longer to have him.

Soft wet licks on her belly, her breasts, her thighs, her face made her shiver when Stefan and Damon blew on the same spots just seconds later.

Only hints of touches on all the right places almost finished her right there. It became unbearable. Elena was afraid they would torture her for days like this. She knew Damon would love that. Making her come only by touching her breasts or kissing her.

Then she felt strong hands holding her legs in place and some other wetness then her own dipped softly into her. It was heaven. Soft and targeted strokes took turns with demanding and all covering licks. She exploded like a nuclear bomb.

Without giving her a break one of them positioned himself between her long legs. The way he took her jaw in his hands to make her focus, it must have to be Stefan, she thought a little disappointed. But when he entered her body she wasn't sure about that anymore. It felt like she would have imagined it being together with Damon only better. All his fire and passion.

They confused me on purpose, she thought. It was Damon after all and she could feel just how long he waited for that to happen, how much he cherished that moment with her.

His calloused hands held her hips tight to cause the right recoil of his movements. He was a god making her his goddess. Filling her with happiness.

When the white nothingness washed over her and electric shocks pleasured her to death every little scar healed. Inside and outside. She felt like a newborn, comforted and safe.

"I love you!" A familiar voice sweet talked in her ear. But it wasn't Damons nor Stefans.

With one leap she sat up in white flower scented linen and opened her eyes wide in shock.

"Oh right, I forgot to say: Remember" Klaus added apologetic.

And she did... and eventually smiled back at him.

"Wow, I didn't know it can be that real. I think that was the darkest, smuttiest, most suspending birthday present one could ever give me."

"Yeah and you told me that hypnosis isn't working on you."

"It felt so real...everything..."

"Well...some of it was real my dear." A mischievous smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"You mean you …"

"I needed a little award for all my twisted ideas."

"So Damon and Stefan...they were ...you? I didn't know you had such a dark side in you, Klaus. But you really scared the hell out of me being the bad guy in your little story. I hated you."

"I'm glad you remembered that things are different now that you came...back." 


End file.
